ESA Ends Attempts To Pick Up Phobos-Grunt Signals

Spaceflight Now reports that hope has faded in the attempts to hear from the troubled Phobos-Grunt probe, and the listening project has been shuttered. After the craft's launch, says the article, "ESA continued trying to establish communications this week with tracking stations in Australia and the Canary Islands, but the 29,000-pound Phobos-Grunt spacecraft never responded. ... The agency's communications site in Perth, Australia, contacted Phobos-Grunt at least twice Nov. 22 and Nov. 23, but the probe has remained mysteriously silent since then." (Similar coverage also at the BBC.) See RussianSpaceWeb.com for a more detailed timeline.

QC vs FSB

[harvey the nerd]

Still a few quality control problems. Perhaps Mr. Putin should focus on things that will help grow Russia's future rather than its war machine and faded empire. Besides, it's China that is more likely to take Siberia away from them.

Re:QC vs FSB

[Anonymous Coward]

"As a time-cutting measure, the spacecraft developers reportedly discussed the possibility of launching the spacecraft with only partially completed flight software. The rest of the code responsible for later phases of the mission could be uploaded into the spacecraft's memory en-route."

Yes, that sounds like a great idea!

Well, if it cuts cost enough to be able to afford a second try it is.