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Wednesday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Russia’s ambitious soil sample return mission to the Martian moon Phobos encounters problems shortly after launching on Tuesday. NASA announces a key unmanned flight test of the Orion/Multipurpose Crew Vehicle in 2014. As predicted by experts, the large asteroid 2005 YU 55 slips safely past the Earth on Tuesday.
1. From Spaceflightnow.com: The fate of Russia’s ambitious Phobos-Grunt mission is uncertain. The probe launched Tuesday at 3:16 p.m., EST, and reached Earth orbit. But the spacecraft failed to ignite its engines again to begin the long journey to the Red Planet. The goal of the mission is to deliver a Chinese orbiter to Mars and return to Earth with samples of the Martian moon Phobos in 2014. Experts were evaluating software and hardware difficulties.
http://bit.ly/s0KOJR
A. From the Associated Press via the Houston Chronicle and others: Russian ground controllers have little time to diagnose and perhaps fix difficulties with the Mars probe. Russia’s limited space communications network was not helping. Battery power is limited.
http://bit.ly/vnUv6k
B. From Itar-Tass of Russia: The Mars probe may not have switched from a solar to a star tracking navigational mode, the news service reported as efforts to diagnose the difficulties continued.
http://bit.ly/tNS9aj
C. From Ria Novosti of Russia: The Phobos-Grunt mission marked the end of a 15-year hiatus in planetary missions for Russia. Russia’s Mars 96 mission never left Earth orbit.
http://bit.ly/ruYmG8
2. From the Orlando Sentinel: NASA announces Tuesday it will add an oft-discussed unmanned 2014 flight test to its development of the Orion/Multipurpose Crew Vehicle. After lifting off, the capsule will orbit the Earth twice and make a high velocity descent to subject the heat shielding and other systems to re-entry conditions like those from a lunar return. Lockheed Martin is developing the four person spacecraft for future deep space missions.
http://thesent.nl/rYWq2Q
3. From the Los Angeles Times: The large asteroid 2005 YU55 zips safely past the Earth on Tuesday, as predicted.
http://lat.ms/vTuUCw
A. From CNN: 2005 YU55 is one of many asteroids swirling through the inner solar system.
http://bit.ly/tvSzzy
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