The ESA, which has been helping Russia to try to communicate
with the errant probe, said in a statement Wednesday that its tracking facility
in the Australian city of Perth established contact with the spacecraft late
Tuesday.
Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said Russian and European
space experts will coordinate further attempts to contact the Phobos-Ground
probe.
The $170 million craft has become stranded in orbit after
its thrusters failed to fire after the Nov. 9 launch to send it to one of Mars’
two moons, Phobos. The ESA’s success in picking up signal from the probe has
raised hope that engineers could prevent its uncontrollable plunge to Earth.
If the ESA manages to receive systems data from the craft,
that may allow experts to determine the cause of the failure and then try to
send commands that could prevent the probe from crashing back to Earth.
Roscosmos’ deputy chief, Vitaly Davydov, said Tuesday that
space experts will keep trying until the end of the month to try to fix the
probe and steer it to its designated flight path. If they fail, the craft could
plummet to Earth some time between late December and late February, he warned,
adding that the site of the crash cannot be established more than a day in
advance.
The spacecraft weighs 13.2 metric tons with a highly toxic
rocket fuel accounting for most of its weight. There have been concerns the
fuel could freeze and spill on impact, although most experts believe it will
likely stay liquid and burn up on re-entry.
