The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond

Cosimo · 8 Nov 2011 at 15:35

Phobos-Grunt

The Russian Phobos-Grunt mission is due to launch tonight at 20:16 GMT aboard a Zenit 2FG rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The mission will attempt to enter orbit around Mars, land on the moon Phobos, collect samples and return to Earth.

The launch will be live here.

More:

http://www.russianspaceweb.com/phobos_grunt.html
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/phobos_grunt_scenario.html

SteveOBHave · 8 Nov 2011 at 15:37

hardcore mission.

PermaBanned · 8 Nov 2011 at 20:14

http://spaceflightnow.com/live/

Phobos-Grunt scheduled for launch in two minutes.

PermaBanned · 9 Nov 2011 at 00:48

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00003251/
http://twitter.com/#!/PhobosGrunt

Oh dear, not had the best of luck lately have the Russians

Nothing confirmed yet, here's hoping it's just instrumentation but the reports of two objects in the same orbit doesn't sound promising...

EDIT:

http://www.satobs.org/seesat/Nov-2011/0071.html

Hopeful?

Cosimo · 9 Nov 2011 at 09:15

Phobos-Grunt going up:

Two planned burns to send it on its way have failed and they have three days to sort the issue before the mission is lost.

Cosimo · 9 Nov 2011 at 09:40

To be continued.......

PermaBanned · 9 Nov 2011 at 17:16

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00003252/

Apparently it's a programming problem, could theoretically be fixed but the ground teams have very little time in which do to it.

Glaucus · 9 Nov 2011 at 17:20

I hope they get it fixed, such a shame.
What is it with mars, it seems to be dogged with bad luck, compared to other deep space missions. Or is that just media attention.

PermaBanned · 9 Nov 2011 at 17:26

Ah yes, the "Great Galactic Ghoul"

It's definitely not just media exaggeration, if anything it's an important reminder that what we're doing in space isn't easy. It isn't routine. It's extremely difficult, and it's extremely underfunded. Those two don't tend to go well together.

Westyfield2 · 9 Nov 2011 at 18:36

Don't know why, but talking about Space and bad luck suddenly reminded me of Defying Gravity!

Cosimo · 10 Nov 2011 at 09:07

PermaBanned said:
http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00003252/

Apparently it's a programming problem, could theoretically be fixed but the ground teams have very little time in which do to it.

The Russian space agency have now said they have two weeks to resolve the issue.

Meanwhile an animation has appeared which shows the proposed test flight of the Orion spacecraft. The test is called Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) and is due in 2014:

Cosimo · 10 Nov 2011 at 10:27

Fantastic video of a 1/9 scale 10.75" diameter 13.7' tall Delta II Model 7420-10 Rocket launch with on board camera:

PermaBanned · 10 Nov 2011 at 17:36

I don't remember the Delta II ever having fins

Didn't get that high after all that i thought, could do with some better guiding or stabilization. Maybe rollerons?

PermaBanned · 10 Nov 2011 at 20:35

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-347

PermaBanned · 10 Nov 2011 at 20:54

Should probably have read that before i posted it: "No mission to Mars since the Viking landers in the 1970s has sought a direct answer to the question of whether life has existed on Mars."

Well i can think of at least one off the top of my head :rolleyes:

Glaucus · 10 Nov 2011 at 20:56

Damn you, every time you post I come in expecting an update.

PermaBanned · 10 Nov 2011 at 20:57

Ha, i gave up trying to beat Sim on that several pages ago

Cosimo · 10 Nov 2011 at 22:27

Not much success with contacting Phobos-Grunt:

http://www.russianspaceweb.com/phobos_grunt_launch.html#11_10

and

"I think we have lost the Phobos-Grunt," Vladimir Uvarov, a former senior space official at the Russian Defence Ministry, told 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."

At this point in time he's probably right.

Glaucus · 10 Nov 2011 at 22:27

, such a shame.

Cosimo · 11 Nov 2011 at 08:20

Still no contact:

Attempts during the night to receive a signal from the unmanned lander Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, which failed to reach its orbit after separating from the launch vehicle on November 9, have so far been to no avail, a source in the space industry said on Friday.

“The spacecraft repeatedly passed over the Baikonur station and other Russian and foreign points of space communications during the night. There is no news yet,” the spokesman said.

RIA Novosti

** The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond **

The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond