Russia 'makes first contact' with stranded Mars probe

[American Pakistani]

Russia 'makes first contact' with stranded Mars probe

Updated 6 hours ago

MOSCOW: Russia on Thursday announced its scientists had for the first time made contact with its stranded Mars probe Phobos-Grunt, a day after the European Space Agency said it had received a signal.

"A signal from the probe has been received and some telemetry data. At the moment our specialists are working on this information," the Interfax news agency quoted Russian space agency spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov as saying.

Interfax said the signal was received at a Russian station at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday afternoon.

The European Space Agency said its ground station in Perth, Australia made contact with the probe at 2025 GMT on Tuesday, the first sign of life from Phobos-Grunt since it got stuck in Earth orbit after launch on November 9.

Russian officials had cautioned earlier this week that the chances were very small of saving the mission, which would require reprogramming the probe to send it off on its trajectory to Mars before the window for its journey closes.

The probe had the unprecedented mission to land on the Martian moon Phobos and bring a sample of its rock back to Earth, as well as launch a Chinese satellite into Martian orbit.

ESA said in a statement on its website that the Perth tracking station had also managed to receive a second signal from the probe.

"The signals received from Phobos-Grunt were much stronger than those initially received on 22 November, in part due to having better knowledge of the spacecraft's orbital position," said Wolfgang Hell, ESA's manager for Phobos-Grunt.

One of the main concerns after the failed launch is the risk of an uncontrolled descent back to Earth. Officials have said gravity will pull Phobos-Grunt down within months as its orbit slows and becomes lower.

The spokesman for Russia's military space forces, Alexei Zolotukhin, said Thursday that it was expected that fragments of the probe would fall to Earth in January or February although the exact date would depend on external factors.

One expert said that its surprise show of life had generated hope that the probe could be brought down back to Earth safely, rather than any real prospect that it could be moved out of orbit towards Mars.

"If we are not only able to hear Phobos-Grunt but it is also able to hear us then there is a real chance of ensuring it can make a managed descent from orbit and its fragments plunged into the ocean," said Yury Karash of the Russian Academy of Comonautics.

He told Interfax a managed descent would minimise the risk of the probe hitting a populated area on land.

But he said there was hardly any chance that the probe could fulfil its original mission of going to Mars as its window was essentially closed and it did not have sufficient fuel left.(AFP)



Russia makes first contact with stranded Mars probe

 

[Project 627]

Excellent, now only if they could get back on route to Mars

 

[OrionHunter]

Why are the Russians showing so much interest in the Mars moon Phobos? Here's why...Posted by me on another web site:

Phobos, photographed by the Mars Express High Resolution
Stereo Camera (HRSC).
Courtesy: The Register

Was Phobos some kind of an 'outpost' of Mars made by an ET civilization, maybe hundreds of thousands of years ago? Or is it still so? What with all the weird, unexplained anomalies on Mars and Phobos, there could be some element of credibility to this, though it’s pure conjecture so far.

Phobos - An Alien Space Base?

The Martian moon Phobos, generally accepted as a celestial body, actually may be an artificial satellite launched long ago by an advanced Martian race, according to Dr. S. Fred Singer, special advisor to President Eisenhower on space developments. No mention was made of the other Mars moon, Deimos.

Dr. Singer backed a claim first made by the Soviet astrophysicist Shklovsky. The Russian scientist's announcement that Phobos was a hollow, artificial satellite, proving the existence of a Martian civilization, set off heated arguments among astronomers. Shklovsky based his decision on a long study of Phobos' peculiar orbit, which other astronomers have noted. The Russian claim has calculations and those of earlier astronomers prove Phobos cannot possibly be an ordinary moon.

In 1963, Raymond H. Wilson Jr., Chief of Applied Mathematics at NASA, joined Shklovsky and Dr. Singer in their Martian conclusions. He stated that "Phobos might be a colossal base orbiting Mars."
Eisenhower White House On Mars' Moon Phobos Being Artificial

Now have a look at some of these images of Phobos. What do you think?

A monolith on Phobos. Is it artificial?
Palermo Project
Aliensurgeon

Here’s a weird formation on Phobos taken by Mars Global Surveyor. Do you notice it toward the upper left?

MOC image 50103 subframe near Stickney crater.
Courtesy: MSSS

I have zoomed in sharpened and reduced picture noise some…

Weird formation on Phobos.. Can this
be the remains of an artificial structure?


Why Phobos?

Phobos – An alien docking station? This infrared photograph
was the last taken by the Russian probe, Phobos II
before it lost contact (Destroyed?)
Courtesy: ufos-aliens

Yes, that's right! Phobos II lost contact soon after it took the above image and beamed it back to Earth. Looks like a huge cylindrical craft near the moon, Phobos! Was the spacecraft Phobos II destroyed to prevent it from studying the object?

As Shakespeare wrote, "There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than can be dreamt of in your philosophy."