ESA abandons Russian space probe, hopes it doesn’t plummet to earth

Things have gone from bad to worse for the orbit locked Phobos-Grunt space probe, having lost contact with the ecu Space Agency, the probe faces abandonment and disaster. The soviet star-gazer got stuck in Earth’s orbit shortly after launch, stunting its two and a half year jaunt to the Martian moon Phobos. Attempts to send commands that might break the craft loose of the Earth’s grip have failed, and the ESA has since given up hope of contacting the probe. The Russians will continue to check out and reestablish contact with the probe, hopefully avoiding an enviably expensive disaster. Weighing 13.2 metric tons, most of that’s fuel, the probe threatens to go back to Earth with a bang, crashing all the way down to terra firma with a poisonous payload. It’s in no way been an excellent couple of months for Euro based space travel. Meanwhile let’s just hope it doesn’t stumble upon anything else while it’s up there, otherwise you might miss the enormous game.

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This post is tagged: abandonment, European Space Agency, martian moon phobos, metric tons, space probe, space travel