Scientists have picked up a signal from Russia's Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, the European Space Agency said Wednesday. The craft was launched earlier this month, but scientists soon lost contact with it.
The ESA reported that its tracking station in Perth, Australia, established contact with Phobos-Grunt on Tuesday at 20.25 UT.
The Phobos-Grunt, also called the Phobos-Soil spacecraft, was constructed to retrieve the first-ever soil samples from the surface of Phobos, one of the moons of Mars. The $163 million probe blasted off from its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, starting Russia's first interplanetary mission in more than two decades.
Russia had hoped to end its long absence from deep space, dating back to an unsuccessful Mars mission in 1996, with the launch of Phobos-Grunt spacecraft. But the loss of contact after takeoff put the country in a state of uncertainty.
The ESA reported that its tracking station in Perth, Australia, established contact with Phobos-Grunt on Tuesday at 20.25 UT.
The Phobos-Grunt, also called the Phobos-Soil spacecraft, was constructed to retrieve the first-ever soil samples from the surface of Phobos, one of the moons of Mars. The $163 million probe blasted off from its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, starting Russia's first interplanetary mission in more than two decades.
Russia had hoped to end its long absence from deep space, dating back to an unsuccessful Mars mission in 1996, with the launch of Phobos-Grunt spacecraft. But the loss of contact after takeoff put the country in a state of uncertainty.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment