Phobos-Grunt Options

[tedstryk]

Just noticed on Twitter that it has apparently begun to decay.

[Paolo]

according to the French newspaper "Le Monde", if contacts are re-established with F-G, it could be put in a high parking orbit between the Earth and the Moon, where it would wait for the 2013 window to open while engineers complete debugging its software.
http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2011...09001_3244.html (in French, evidemment...)

this is the most sensitive proposal so far. I imagine F-G could be sent to fly by the moon like that old comm sat Asiasat 3 or Nozomi and be perturbed in a distant resonant orbit or even a solar orbit returning to fly by the moon and Earth in late 2013 and resume the original mission as planned. I guess this could be done with the available fuel. The only problem I see (beside the non-trivial need to re-establish full control over the probe) is that Russian hardware is not known for its reliability and 2 more years in space may be too much.
I hope that orbital mechanics gurus like Farquhar and Bellbruno will be working on this

[marsophile]

http://www.russianspaceweb.com/phobos_grun...unch.html#11_28

An attempt will be made to raise the orbit of the spacecraft.

[marsophile]

http://www.space.com/13761-russian-spacecr...t-esa-call.html

The attempt last night to raise the orbit was unsuccessful. Another try tonight.

[Edit: At http://www.satflare.com/track.php?q=phobos#MAP I observed a maximum altitude of 322.5 in the RealTime tracking screen. That seems to be a little higher than the apogee that is listed for earlier orbits (about 308). There also seems to be a discontinuity in the orbital plot. Not sure what this means, if anything.]
[Edit: I have also observed a minimum altitude of 212.2, which is also a little higher than the listed perigee of about 209.5]

[dilo]

Source isn't very reliable, but is worth to read (eventually, for a good laugh!):
http://www.eutimes.net/2011/11/%C2%ADdid-u...-russian-probe/
in particular, note the rumors about the fact that "the signal was scrambled beyond recovery due to lack of compatibility between Russian and European communications equipment" and especially that "a retired Russian general believes that the glitch which prevented Phobos-Grunt from carrying out its space mission was caused by American radar sites in Alaska"!

[Daba]

Telescopic imaging of FG!

http://freeimagehosting.nl/pics/f26360f415...530c943f447.jpg
http://twitter.com/#!/ralfvandebergh

[OKB001]

That's great, thanks for the link!

[ilbasso]

BBC News is reporting that ESA has abandoned further attempts to contact Phobos-Grunt.

[marsophile]

... ESA has abandoned further attempts to contact Phobos-Grunt.

According to

http://www.satflare.com/track.php?q=phobos#MAP

For the first time since the launch, thanks to the orbit precession, the spacecraft's solar panels will be constantly exposed to sun (100%) over 2 days from December 13 (about 12 UTC) to December 14 (about 23 UTC)."

It would be nice if ESA made some further attempts at that time. [Edit: Rentry is currently projected to be around mid-January]

[ddeerrff]

How's the orbit holding up? Last I heard it was going to be reentering before mid-December.

[dilo]

ddeerrff, based on this site, re-entry is now forecasted on Jan, 11+8

Edit: changed re-entry date based on last data in the plot

[Daba]

It would be nice if ESA made some further attempts at that time. [Edit: Rentry is currently projected to be around mid-January]

They concluded from the telescopic images that FG is not holding it's attitude toward the Sun any more, so it could be the reason ESA ended the support.

http://www.ria.ru/science/20111130/502776332.html

[Marz]

"Following a request from Russian mission authorities, ESA is continuing its efforts to communicate with Phobos Grunt via the Agency's 15 m-diameter Maspalomas tracking station located in Spain. Communication attempts on Monday, Tuesday and today, which made use of a redundant transmitter on board the spacecraft, did not succeed. The Agency has agreed to continue the effort until Friday, 9 December."

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Operations/SEM3T55XPVG_0.html

[ilbasso]

The Washington Post is reporting that Russia has given up on Phobos-Grunt. News is emerging about cables being re-routed and soldered onto the vehicle while it was loaded with propellant, and the team still realizing that the Flight Control Software had major flaws just prior to launch.

There are a few factual inconsistencies (dates not matching up with events, and inexplicably a photo of the MSL launch with the article), but the overall picture is of a heroic effort to try to fix too many flaws too late in the gme.

[ElkGroveDan]

cables being re-routed and soldered onto the vehicle while it was loaded with propellant,

Here's one of the technicians taking a break during the procedure.

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