Satellite News

In consultation and agreement with Fobos-Grunt mission managers, ESA engineers ended tracking support today.

The European Space Agency has transmitted signals…Read more

After establishing contact with Russia’s Fobos-Grunt Mars mission earlier this week, ESA’s tracking station in Australia received no signal from the spacecraft last night. ESA engineers are investigating the cause in close collaboration with Russian mission controllers.Other Posts:Boeing Demonstrates FAB-T OperabilityEADS (Astrium) results H1 2008Cable Or Satellite in Phoenix Arizona?Spacenet Hires Andreas Georghiou as CEOCOM DEV wins follow-on commercial contractCOM DEV USA awarded contract to provide UHF equipmentJAXA successfully tests Akatsuki engineJapanese microsatellite tests observing thunderstorms

On 22 November at 2025 UTC, ESA’s tracking station at Perth, Australia, briefly established contact with Russia’s Fobos-Grunt spacecraft. While there is a lot of speculation regarding the possibilities of saving the mission (at least partially), this first contact is only a very small step towards that goal.
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The Russian space agency Roskosmos admitted that the Fobos-Grunt mission is likely unrecoverable. “There is little chance that we will be able to realise this mission,” deputy head Vitaly Davydov was quoted as saying.
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Russia seems to have missed the last chance to put its Fobos-Grunt probe back on track. The window for Fobos-Grunt’s flight closed on 21 November. Even if the craft’s engines can be started, it won’t be able to reach its original target.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has stopped acquiring images from the 27-year-old Landsat 5 Earth observation satellite due to a rapidly degrading electronic component.
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Russia has time until the beginning of December to establish contact with its Fobos-Grunt unmanned spacecraft that is stranded at a low-Earth orbit after launch, the head of Roskosmos said. All attempts to receive a signal from the spacecraft have so far been unsuccessful.
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