What what may have been the most ambitious Mars mission in history will not be going to its intended destination thanks to a faulty rocket thruster that was designed to propel the Russian Phobos-Grunt probe to the Red Planet, specifically one of its moons. Now, over two weeks after a rocket stage failed to activate, Phobos-Grunt finds itself stuck in Earth's orbit with all opportunity of going to the Martian moon Phobos a thing of the past. Now, the scenario is getting more and more glum by the hour: one of detour or doom.
Right now, the main problem with saving Phobos-Grunt is trying to reach the satellite in the first place. After the failed launch, mission control has lost all contact with the space probe, which was originally intended for the Martian moon, Phobos. The reason? A fuel tank is largely blocking the probe's reception antenna, reducing the windows for communication to a few minutes at a time. Needless to say, for anything to be done about the planetary probe turned satellite, communication must be restored so that mission control can send new commands and, with luck, get the crucial rocket booster to fire, albeit belatedly. Unfortunately, the window for launching to Phobos having closed, Phobos-Grunt won't be able to go to its intended location.
However, all may not be lost. As reported a few days ago, backup plans are already in the works. In addition, the Russians are reporting that the window for a one-way trip to Mars itself has yet to close, meaning that the probe could go to the Red Planet itself, instead. Unfortunately, doing anything hinges upon gaining a communication link with the probe itself. Without commands from the ground, the orbit occupied by Phobos-Grunt will decay until the planetary probe turned satellite burns up during atmospheric re-entry.
In the annals of planetary exploration, no lander that has ever left Earth has been designed to return, that was until Phobos-Grunt. If the original plan, the Phobos-Grunt probe would have embarked on a 3-year mission to Phobos, the larger of the two Martian moons, where it will conduct scientific experiments and collect soil before launching a return vehicle to Earth. In the annals of space exploration, this return trip to Earth would have broken new ground in space exploration, pioneering new technology that could serve as the foundation for manned, round trips to mars in the future.
Unfortunately, the main mission is now impossible. Hopefully, though, engineers can still salvage some portion of what was to be possibly the most ambitious planetary probe mission in history.
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