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| Signal picked up from Russia's stranded Mars probe | Signal picked up from Russia's stranded Mars probe |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News | By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News |
| Contact has finally been made with Russia's troubled Mars mission, says the European Space Agency (Esa). | Contact has finally been made with Russia's troubled Mars mission, says the European Space Agency (Esa). |
| The agency reports that its tracking station in Perth, Australia, picked up a signal from the Phobos-Grunt probe. | The agency reports that its tracking station in Perth, Australia, picked up a signal from the Phobos-Grunt probe. |
| Esa is now working with Russian engineers to see how best to maintain communications with the craft. | Esa is now working with Russian engineers to see how best to maintain communications with the craft. |
| Phobos-Grunt has been stuck in Earth orbit since its launch on 9 November, unable to fire the engine that would take it on to Mars. | Phobos-Grunt has been stuck in Earth orbit since its launch on 9 November, unable to fire the engine that would take it on to Mars. |
| It raises the hope that Russian controllers can establish what is wrong with the spacecraft and fix it. | It raises the hope that Russian controllers can establish what is wrong with the spacecraft and fix it. |
| Phobos-Grunt still has a short window in which to start its journey before a change in the alignment of the planets makes the distance to the Red Planet too big to cross. | Phobos-Grunt still has a short window in which to start its journey before a change in the alignment of the planets makes the distance to the Red Planet too big to cross. |
| Low power | Low power |
| The European Space Operations Centre (Esoc) in Darmstadt, Germany, reports that the contact was made at 2025 GMT on Tuesday. | The European Space Operations Centre (Esoc) in Darmstadt, Germany, reports that the contact was made at 2025 GMT on Tuesday. |
| The agency had to modify its 15m dish in Perth to get through to Phobos-Grunt. This required widening the antenna's beam to catch the probe in its uncertain orbit. | The agency had to modify its 15m dish in Perth to get through to Phobos-Grunt. This required widening the antenna's beam to catch the probe in its uncertain orbit. |
| Perth also reduced the power of the transmission to make it more like the sort of faint X-band signal the craft would expect to hear at Mars. | Perth also reduced the power of the transmission to make it more like the sort of faint X-band signal the craft would expect to hear at Mars. |
| "We were able to get our transmission in and the commands that were sent then allowed the transmitter on the spacecraft to be turned on; and then we saw the signal coming back into our big dish," explained Dr Klaus-Juergen Schulz, the head of the ground station systems division at Esa-Esoc. | "We were able to get our transmission in and the commands that were sent then allowed the transmitter on the spacecraft to be turned on; and then we saw the signal coming back into our big dish," explained Dr Klaus-Juergen Schulz, the head of the ground station systems division at Esa-Esoc. |
| "We also made some radiometric measurements to derive a more precise orbit. This should make it easier to contact Phobos-Grunt in future." | |
| The next pass opportunity is after 2020 [GMT]. At that time, the probe will be in sight of the dish and its solar panels will also be flooded with sunlight to power onboard systems. | |
| All the information gathered in Tuesday night's communication, including telemetry from Phobos-Grunt, has been passed straight to the Russians. | All the information gathered in Tuesday night's communication, including telemetry from Phobos-Grunt, has been passed straight to the Russians. |
| Exciting prospect | Exciting prospect |
| The probe was built to land on the larger of Mars' two moons, Phobos, and scoop up rock to bring back to Earth. | The probe was built to land on the larger of Mars' two moons, Phobos, and scoop up rock to bring back to Earth. |
| Such a venture should yield fascinating new insights into the origin of the 27km-wide object and the planet it circles. | Such a venture should yield fascinating new insights into the origin of the 27km-wide object and the planet it circles. |
| The mission is also notable because China's first Mars satellite, Yinghuo-1, has been launched piggy-back on the main Russian spacecraft. | The mission is also notable because China's first Mars satellite, Yinghuo-1, has been launched piggy-back on the main Russian spacecraft. |
| The 13-tonne mission was initially lifted into a 350km-high orbit above Earth, with the expectation that the probe's big engine would fire twice - first, to raise that orbit, and, second, to set course for Mars. | The 13-tonne mission was initially lifted into a 350km-high orbit above Earth, with the expectation that the probe's big engine would fire twice - first, to raise that orbit, and, second, to set course for Mars. |
| But for some reason, those engine burns never happened, and Phobos-Grunt has continued to circle the Earth. All efforts to talk with it have failed - until now. | But for some reason, those engine burns never happened, and Phobos-Grunt has continued to circle the Earth. All efforts to talk with it have failed - until now. |
| Fortunately, the probe has managed to maintain itself in a stable condition. The perigee of its elliptical orbit (the closest point it comes to Earth) has actually risen slightly, and is just above 200km. | Fortunately, the probe has managed to maintain itself in a stable condition. The perigee of its elliptical orbit (the closest point it comes to Earth) has actually risen slightly, and is just above 200km. |
| If engineers can keep a communication line open to the craft, they can begin to diagnose its problems. | If engineers can keep a communication line open to the craft, they can begin to diagnose its problems. |
| The best scenario is that the issues are related to a software anomaly, and that engineers can then upload new commands. | The best scenario is that the issues are related to a software anomaly, and that engineers can then upload new commands. |
| But if the fault lies in a hardware malfunction, Phobos-Grunt may still be beyond hope. | But if the fault lies in a hardware malfunction, Phobos-Grunt may still be beyond hope. |