Failed Russian Phobos Probe Causes Alarm

[Harley]

Could become the most dangerous manmade object ever to hit the planet.

The latest Russian space probe, launched on Wednesday 11/09 and destined for Phobos to gather ground samples from the Martian moon, is now stuck in Earth's orbit.

The 14.6 ton spacecraft is carrying tons of highly toxic fuel (nitrogen teroxide and hydrazine) and if it cannot be returned to life it could become the most dangerous manmade object ever to hit the planet.

NASA has offered technical assistance to Russia. The Chief Debris Scientist at NASA says the spacecraft's orbit is already beginning to degrade.

Full story: Russian Space Probe Stuck In Orbit Causes Alarm

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[flower]

Where's 007 when we need him?

Wow Harley ..

a 170million $ toxic bomb..

[Harley]

NASA is naturally playing this down right now. After all that's what they were created for.

But this could potentially become a very disastrous event if they can't save it.

[Heretic]

oh dear, another disaster to fret over

[Dreamwalker]

comet elinin,yu55.9.11,11.11,2012.
the return of the annukiapie man.
global breakdown,global catastrhopies.

get the picture.

is it the blue pill or the red one that puts me back to sleep?

[robert]

I don't know manny, you better be fully awake for this one!

[Dreamwalker]

just listening to Rik clay interviews .
wow.
if he can,t open peoples eyes then we are knackered.

another good one bit the dust.
did what he had to do then moved on?

[M@e 311]

Didn't they say that when it took off it started going the wrong way or something? How could this be possible?

[Dreamwalker]

according to the news it is either software or hardware issues.
the navigational software corralates with the sun and planets.
if that does not kick in then it will just float in orbit ,waiting to come back down.

if it is a software issue then the groundcrew have a chance of fixing it.
hardware?

[Harley]

News is beginning to pick up on this:

Russia Races To Save Mars Moon Probe From Space Junk Fate - Space.Com

Russians Scramble To Save Stranded Mars Probe In Earth Orbit - ABC NEWS

NASA Spills Last Details Of Mars Space Truck Trip

Tuesday's NASA event came one day after Russia's Phobos-Grunt Mars expedition came a cropper. When asked if NASA were helping the Russian space agency jumpstart their balky probe, McCuistion said, diplomatically: "We have offered assistance, and if they need it, we will provide [it] to the best of our ability with our space communications network." - The Register

AND

From that last link referring to The Register's article: NASA Spills Last Details Of Mars Space Truck Trip I have learned that this new US Martian Rover, which is scheduled for launch on Nov. 25 (NEXUS), is using a NUCLEAR POWER SOURCE.

What are the odds that this Russian probe isn't also carrying a Nuclear Power Source?

I'd bet dollars to donuts.

Do you think they would tell us?

[Northern Boy]

another good one bit the dust.
did what he had to do then moved on?

Not quite he was murdered

[Harley]

Not looking good:

Russia: Hopes for Space Probe Fade

November 10, 2011

Hopes of salvaging an ambitious unmanned mission to Mars dwindled on Thursday, with Russian scientists failing to make contact with a multimillion dollar space probe that stalled in a low-earth orbit after the engines responsible for sending it toward Mars did not fire.

Experts said that there was still a small chance the probe?s software could be reprogrammed and the mission saved, though there were growing fears that the craft, filled with toxic fuels, could crash to earth within days or weeks. ?With every orbit around the earth, the craft is loosing altitude and speed,? an official told the news agency Interfax.

Officials involved with the space program told Russian news agencies that they made several failed attempts on Thursday to restart the engines on the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, which was supposed to bring back soil samples from the Martian moon Phobos.

Source: The New York Times

[Harley]

From The Voice Of Russia
15 minutes ago

Attempts to track Phobos-Grunt continue

Russian experts are trying to get in touch with the Phobos-Grunt moon probe which has veered off course and is stuck on a support orbit.

If the probe sends a signal, it means it is still ?alive?, a Baikonur source said.

After receiving so-called flying instructions, the spacecraft should switch on the trajectory system.

If it fails to do so, there will be no chances of rescuing it and it will fall down on Earth on November 26th .

[Luke]

Another failure of Russian Mission to Phobos.

Curious.

Last time they at least reached mars ..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fobos_2

[Modwiz]

Another failure of Russian Mission to Phobos.

Curious.

Last time they at least reached mars ..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fobos_2

It almost seems as if someone or somebody does not want them exploring that part of our solar neighborhood. I am not referring to ET's either.

[Limited Edition]

General-Lieutenant Nikolay Rodionov, former command of ballistic missile early warning system, says HAARP may have affected the Phobos control system.

Russian space experts are struggling to decode fresh telemetry signals received from the stricken Phobos-Grunt probe. Meanwhile, rumors are circulating that America?s ionosphere research site in Alaska caused the spacecraft?s failure.

On Wednesday night, the European Space Agency?s station in Perth, Australia, established communication with Phobos-Grunt, which has been rotating helplessly around the Earth since its engines failed to fire two weeks ago.

The Perth station sent a command to the Russian craft which caused it to transmit long-awaited telemetry data, which was duly forwarded to Russian specialists.

Staff at the Lavochkin Association, which built the ill-fated Mars probe, are working on decoding the telemetry. Some insider reports suggested that the signal was scrambled beyond recovery due to lack of compatibility between Russian and European communications equipment, although this has been neither confirmed nor denied officially. If true, however, engineers should be able to make the necessary adjustments before the next communication session.

Also on Thursday, the ground station at Kazakhstan?s Baikonur managed to contact the orbiting probe as it passed overhead. They also managed to obtain some telemetry, the Russian space agency Roscosmos reported. Since November 9, Russian specialists have repeatedly tried to establish a connection with the spacecraft, but failed.


Meanwhile, a retired Russian general believes that the glitch which prevented Phobos-Grunt from carrying out its space mission was caused by American radar sites in Alaska.

General-Lieutenant Nikolay Rodionov, who used to command the country?s ballistic missile early warning system, told Interfax that ?the powerful electromagnetic radiation of those sites may have affected the control system of the interplanetary probe.?

The general was apparently referring to the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) site located in Gakona, Alaska. The facility?s stated purpose is the study of the ionosphere and its use for communication. But several popular conspiracy theories say it is developing a superweapon with potential to cause natural disasters on a global scale, including earthquakes, climate change and reversal of the magnetic poles.

Phobos-Grunt?s mission was to reach the Martian moon Phobos, pick up a sample of its soil, and return it to Earth. The space trip was cut short, however, when its engines failed to fire as intended.

The probe is now stuck in a low-Earth orbit, which makes communication very difficult. There had been fears of it falling to Earth, but hopes rose on Tuesday night when the ESA managed to establish radio contact.

http://rt.com/news/phobos-grunt-climate-weapon-129/

[Harley]

It almost seems as if someone or somebody does not want them exploring that part of our solar neighborhood. I am not referring to ET's either.

I think that's a pretty good observation Modwiz.

A little food for thought:

Anyone ever wonder why (so we were told):

* The Russians have never been to the moon? Russia was far ahead of the US in the Great Space Race, and yet once the US landed Russia just gave-up?

* The US cancelled their moon-landing program after Apollo 17 citing budgetary constraints, even though the entire program was already paid for and most of the hardware had already been built up through Apollo 20?

* Russia has experienced great difficulty in getting their probes to Mars, whereas the US has enjoyed mostly success?

* The US ended the Shuttle Transportation System, it's only means of human transport to space, without having another operational transport system already in place?

* Russia has effectively been given control, by virtue of the only human access to space, of the ISS while the US successfully continues on with it's "Space Probe" program?

* After becoming the only human access to the ISS, Russia suddenly develops problems with their launch vehicle . . . A system which they've used for years without a hitch?

* Russia makes a public comment about taking down the ISS, and then it was retracted by claiming it was made in error?

* Russia's latest, and probably the most sophisticated and expensive, probe to Mars' moon Phobos has failed and most likely will fall back to Earth?

* Russia has been rearing-up it's head recently, warning of building up it's missile defense in response to Europe's missile shield, of which they have been kept "in the loop" about all along?

And now, as Limited Edition has reported:

* Russia is all-but accusing the US of causing the spacecraft's failure with it's HAARP technology?

Remember. All of the above: So We Were Told.

This retired Russian general knows what he's talking about. Being a former military commander of the country?s ballistic missile early warning system, he knows full well the effects on electronic systems of Electromagnetic Interference (EMI), Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), and Directed High Energy RF (HERF). As I do. And remember this was not just some simple, unsophisticated probe from some third-world country, but was a very expensive, technologically advanced, state of the art spacecraft. Something smells pretty rotten to me and I don't think it's coming from Denmark!

I've only connected a few factual events together (above), but believe me there are far many more than I am able to go through now. But they are easy for me to see.

Here's a thought: What if the US, Russia, and all the other governments of the world were nothing more than pawns to a greater scheme? A scheme which ultimately does not allow for ANY of these governments to be in control?

Now read through my list of events above once again and let me ask you:

How would you feel/react if you felt you were getting the short end of the stick in the greater scheme of things?

This certainly could account for all of the sabre rattling taking place of late. Russia has taken a back seat to the US for many years. It seems that someone doesn't want them on the moon and it seems that someone doesn't want them to see what's in the Mars system. It seems.

For me, it also seems lately like time is shifting into overdrive.

Like I said, all food for thought.

[Luke]

clarification: No Russian manned mission got to the moon. They did sent rovers there (Lunochod series).

But yes, all them "coincidences"

Also, Apollo landing sites are now declered off-limits ("space archeological sites").

American space program is reverting back to '70s technologies.

Here's a thought: What if the US, Russia, and all the other governments of the world were nothing more than pawns to a greater scheme? A scheme which ultimately does not allow for ANY of these governments to be in control?

Like that would be news.

In every "great conflict" here on earth, there was always "third party", that supplied both sides of the conflict. That was role of U.S. of A. in two world wars.

It is then logical, that Cold War also had similar "third party" dealing cards: technology, information access and exploration access.
What is new- it cannot be traced to a country.. but if you would try to follow money .. like for example, what international concerns invested in Soviet Union and Iron Curtain countries , before curtain fallen, and to whom those people were connected, or paid allegiance. Seemingly trivial things, like wooden furniture manufacturer, and what it's owner believed in.

(yeah I red many of Farrel books )

[Ross]

_57098401_pg_graphic.jpg

Europe ends calls to stranded Mars probe:

It is looking increasingly grim for Russia's Mars mission Phobos-Grunt, which has been stuck circling the Earth since its launch in early November.

Apart from some brief radio contact with the wayward probe just over a week ago, there has been total silence from the spacecraft.

The European Space Agency announced on Friday that it was now ceasing any further attempts to get a signal.

Russian engineers though are expected to keep trying to the last.

"We will stay available for our Russian colleagues in case there is any sign or glimpse of hope from their side," said Dr Manfred Warhaut from Esa's European Space Operations Centre (Esoc) in Darmstadt, Germany.

It was Esa's 15m antenna in Perth, Australia, that first managed to get a response from Phobos-Grunt on 22 and 23 November (GMT). That success was quickly followed by Russian ground controllers using a 0.5m dish in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

But since then, the probe has not reacted to any commands.

Phobos-Grunt is currently moving in an orbit with an altitude that varies between 200km (perigee) and 340km (apogee).

This orbit is slowly decaying. If engineers cannot re-establish contact and control, the 13-tonne spacecraft will eventually fall back to Earth.

The game-plan of late has been to try to stabilise the orbit by getting commands into the probe that would activate its thrusters and raise it higher in the sky. Getting Phobos-Grunt into a safe "parking orbit" would buy engineers more time to consider their options.

The opportunity to go to Mars, however, has been lost. The changing alignment of the planets now makes the distance to Mars too big to cross.

Phobos-Grunt was built to land on the larger of Mars' two moons, Phobos, and scoop up rock to bring back to Earth.

Such a venture should yield fascinating new insights into the origin of the 27km-wide object and the planet it circles.

The mission is also notable because China's first Mars satellite, Yinghuo-1, has been launched piggy-back on the main Russian spacecraft.

While Esa was always going to provide ground support to the Phobos-Grunt mission, the agency said it now felt it had done everything it could do to help.

"We have exhausted all the technical options at this point," said Wolfgang Hell, Esa's Phobos-Grunt service manager.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16010332

Ross