Stalled Phobos probe may fall to Earth in January

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Stalled Phobos probe may fall to Earth in January

18:36 15 November 2011 by David Shiga

The world's telescopes are still trying to contact a Russian space probe meant to visit the Martian moon Phobos, which has been stuck in Earth orbit since its launch on 8 November.

For reasons that are still unclear, the spacecraft never made two engine firings that were supposed to send it on its way to Mars after reaching Earth orbit. Also stranded is a Chinese Mars orbiter called Yinghuo-1, which was supposed to hitch a ride on Phobos-Grunt to the Red Planet.

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There is no time to waste, because the spacecraft will gradually lose altitude and will eventually burn up in Earth's atmosphere. The date of re-entry is difficult to estimate, but a report in Russian on the Russian space agency website suggests it would occur in January.

The re-entry has raised concerns because the spacecraft contains toxic hydrazine fuel.

The US government cited concerns about hydrazine harming people on the ground in its decision to destroy one of its own satellites in orbit in 2008, which had a decaying orbit.

However, independent space experts questioned the rationale for this at the time, saying the risks of the fuel surviving the fiery re-entry through the atmosphere and landing on a populated area were very small.

Full report here