Russia struggles to save Mars moon probe

[American]

Link

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press


MOSCOW (AP) -- As Russia's space agency struggled Thursday to fix a probe bound for a moon of Mars that instead got stuck in Earth's orbit, some experts said the chances of saving the $170 million craft looked slim.

Roscosmos spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov said efforts to communicate with the unmanned Phobos-Grunt (Phobos-Ground) spacecraft hadn't brought any results yet. The probe will come crashing down in a couple of weeks if engineers fail to fix the problem.


"I think we have lost the Phobos-Grunt," Vladimir Uvarov, a former top space expert at the Russian Defense Ministry, said in an interview published Thursday in the government daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta. "It looks like a serious flaw. The past experience shows that efforts to make the engines work will likely fail."

I'm surprised no one put this up, like the hyper-sonic aircraft we lost a couple months ago, that got plastered everywhere.

 

[Grant]

Link

I'm surprised no one put this up, like the hyper-sonic aircraft we lost a couple months ago, that got plastered everywhere.

It's because people around the world have come to expect more from the Americans, are often envious as a result, and therefore more likely to make more of their failures.

But who expects anything worthwhile from the Russians, or many other international countries or groups we could name?

We know they are out there but to mention them would be 'racist".

 

[Ontologuy]

When I was a kid, the space program was exciting, as was the space race, and we knew just enough to dream about one day going to other planets and the stars.

Now, however, physicists are telling us that it is highly unlikely that humans will ever go interstellar, and that only our nanobots will likely travel to other solar systems.

Though I'm saddened by the loss of awe and wonder about space trips, I still can't help but wonder why we, or Russia, or anyone, for that matter, would want to travel to Mars.

Maybe it's for the sheer thrill of exploration. Maybe it's for the prestige. Maybe it's for gaining political advantage.

Regardless, I'm less concerned about booing the Russians as I am saddened about the failure of their inconsequential venture ..

.. And I'm more concerned as to whether enough of the poisonous fuel will be left after re-entry to do damage to the environment and the people on which it falls.

 

[haymarket]

When I was a kid, the space program was exciting, as was the space race, and we knew just enough to dream about one day going to other planets and the stars.

Now, however, physicists are telling us that it is highly unlikely that humans will ever go interstellar, and that only our nanobots will likely travel to other solar systems.

Though I'm saddened by the loss of awe and wonder about space trips, I still can't help but wonder why we, or Russia, or anyone, for that matter, would want to travel to Mars.

Maybe it's for the sheer thrill of exploration. Maybe it's for the prestige. Maybe it's for gaining political advantage.

Regardless, I'm less concerned about booing the Russians as I am saddened about the failure of their inconsequential venture ..

.. And I'm more concerned as to whether enough of the poisonous fuel will be left after re-entry to do damage to the environment and the people on which it falls.

I remember vividly being in eighth grade and the science teacher explained how putting a man on the moon would be like hitting a target with a gun and he reduced it to a rather simply problem in physics. That pretty much took any romance or adventure out of it for me and I never really cared again.