Europe ends search for Stranded Russian Mars Mission

[ BBC Science & Environment ] 2 Dec

Too bad for the stranded Russian Mars Mission Phobos-Grunt, as the European Space Agency announced on Friday that it was now ceasing any further attempts to get a signal.

The Russian craft has been stuck circling the Earth since its launch in early November. Apart from some brief radio contact with the wayward probe just over a week ago, there has been total silence from the spacecraft.

The Russian engineers have not lost hope and are still trying to recover the stranded spacecraft.

Read more »

Russian Mars bound Phobos-Grunt may crash back to earth

Full Story: Huffington Post 13 November 2011

ITAR-Tass (Russian news agency) reported Sunday that Phobos-Grunt (Phobos-Ground), the unmanned Mars probe, may come crashing down to earth in a couple of weeks if engineers fail to fix the problem.

The Phobos-Grunt was launched Wednesday and reached preliminary orbit, but its engines never fired to send it off to the Red Planet. The efforts to communicate with the spacecraft have so far been unsuccessful. 

Read more »