Quantcast
ZME Science
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • ZME & more
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
Home Space Space flight

Russians declare Phobos-Grunt probe failed

by Mihai Andrei
November 14, 2011
in Space flight
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit

The probe, which had the purpose of reaching one of the two Martian moons, was declared dead, and it will probably crash on Earth in January, without presenting any kind of risk to populated areas.

Phobos Grunt
An artist's depiction of the Phobos-Grunt probe on orbit

 

The Phobos-Grunt probe was supposed to reach Mars, orbit it a few months, deploy a Chinese satellite, then land on Phobos, take samples of rocks and dust and then return to Earth – ambitious plans. But everything took a turn for the worse, when the computer onboard the craft failed to fire two engine burns to send it on its trajectory. Russian scientists and engineers had three days to fix this issue before the batteries wouldn’t have enough power to restart the engines.

However, the task proved to be too big, and the probe was declared dead, in a major blow for the Russian space program morale. After the US has retired all its space orbiters, this is another major setback for space exploration worldwide; hopefully, the Russians will be able to cope with this problem and not give up on further such initiatives, but rather, focus and progress even more. The entire space program needs to stay focused, and it requires as much support as it can get.

ShareTweetShare
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • ZME & more

© 2007-2021 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • ZME & more
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2021 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.