Lost Russian Mars Probe Phones Home 138
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the it-was-just-resting dept.
from the it-was-just-resting dept.
astroengine writes "The lost Russian Mars mission Phobos-Grunt has made a surprise announcement: she's alive. According to the European Space Agency (ESA) in the early hours of Wednesday morning, a tracking station in Perth, Australia, picked up a signal from the ailing spacecraft."
Re:Intelligent (Score:2, Insightful)
He has a 4 digit user id. He was probably one of the first here.
Re:Intelligent (Score:2, Insightful)
The probe was never lost. It is a large object in low Earth orbit; its trajectory is known perfectly well [heavens-above.com]. (Right now it appears to be over Tahiti, for example.)
What it was was uncommunicative. A spacecraft that says nothing is essentially hopeless, unless you want to send someone up there to grab it. Now that it is talking, there may be a chance to save the mission.
Re:Phobos-Grunt's message (Score:3, Insightful)
His comment in no way implies that you cannot also be simultaneously excited, miffed and aroused.