As NASA managers continue to work through the evaluations into an exploration roadmap for the agency, the end goal of sending humans to Mars is starting to show a level of consistency. Per documentation, the key Design Reference Mission (DRM) evaluations are pointing to the “Flexible Path” approach of visiting a Martian moon, prior to [...]
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Russia’s failed Fobos-Grunt spacecraft has re-entered on Sunday, following its failure to leave Low Earth Orbit (LEO) on what was supposed to be a sample return mission to the moon of Phobos. An accurate prediction of the spacecraft’s re-entry time and location will require some time to confirm, although Russian officials claim the spacecraft should [...]
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Despite a small period of time where it was hoped communications and commanding might be established with the stricken Fobos-Grunt spacecraft, it now appears the Russian probe’s future is one which will see it head towards a fiery end, as its orbit continues decay over time. The likely scenario now points to a destructive re-entry [...]
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After nearly all hope was lost, the silence of the Fobos-Grunt spacecraft has been broken, following a major breakthrough via a European Space Agency (ESA) tracking station in Perth, Australia. With the earlier confirmation a carrier signal having been established during one pass, the pace of progress is picking up, with news that received telemetry data [...]
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Despite several valiant attempts, Russian experts are still unable to command the Fobos-Grunt spacecraft back to nominal operations – which is required for it to carry out two critical burns to head to its Phobos destination. The spacecraft is expected to wander around in Low Earth Orbit for some time, although controllers only have two [...]
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A Russian Zenit-2 launch vehicle lofted Russia’s Fobos-Grunt spacecraft into orbit – launching at 02:16 local time on Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome – ahead of its sample return mission to Phobos, along with China’s first Mars probe, Yinghuo-1. However, both of the two planned burns to send it on its way to Mars failed, related to problems with the flight computer. [...]
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With the official opening statements on the overhaul of NASA’s future expected “soon”, the realignment of NASA’s future goals will create a Human Space Flight path that will likely stretch out for decades. The end goal remains footsteps on Mars, but the approach may involve the use of deep space and Phobos as the precursor [...]
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