Science

Russians Say Failed Space Probe Crashed Into Pacific Ocean

Russians Say Failed Space Probe Crashed Into Pacific Ocean

In this Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011 file photo, the Zenit-2SB rocket with the Phobos-Ground probe blasts off from its launch pad at the Cosmodrome Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The spacecraft crashed into the Pacific Ocean Jan. 15. ( (AP Photo, File)

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian space probe, which was designed to boost the nation’s pride on a bold mission to a moon of Mars but got stuck in Earth orbit instead, came down in flames Sunday, showering its fragments into the Pacific Ocean south of Chile’s coast.

(Related: Russian Space Probe Stuck in Earth’s Orbit Carries Toxic Chemicals)

The fragments of the Phobos-Ground landed in water 1,250 kilometers (775 miles) west of Wellington Island off Chile’s southern coast, the Russian military Air and Space Defense Forces said in a statement carried by the country’s news agencies.

The military space tracking facilities were monitoring the probe’s crash, its spokesman Col. Alexei Zolotukhin said.

The $170 million craft was one of the heaviest and most toxic pieces of space junk ever to crash to Earth, but space officials and experts said the risks posed by its crash were minimal because the toxic rocket fuel on board and most of the craft’s structure would burn up in the atmosphere high above the ground anyway.

Russians Say Failed Space Probe Crashed Into Pacific Ocean

The Phobos-Ground was designed to travel to one of Mars’ twin moons, Phobos, land on it, collect soil samples and fly them back to Earth in 2014 in one of the most daunting interplanetary missions ever. It got stranded in Earth’s orbit after its Nov. 9 launch, and efforts by Russian and European Space Agency experts to bring it back to life failed.

Prof. Heiner Klinkrad, Head of The European Space Agency‘s Space Debris Office that was monitoring the probe’s descent, said the craft didn’t pose any significant risks.

“This one is way, way down in the ranking,” he said in a telephone interview from his office in Berlin, adding that booster rockets contain more solid segments that may survive fiery re-entries.

Thousands of pieces of derelict space vehicles orbit Earth, occasionally posing danger to astronauts and satellites in orbit, but as far as is known, no one has ever been hurt by falling space debris.

Russians Say Failed Space Probe Crashed Into Pacific Ocean

The failed Russian Phobos-Ground probe, shown in this November 2011 photo, fell to Earth Jan. 15. (AP Photo/Russian Roscosmos)

Russia’s space agency Roscosmos predicted that only between 20 and 30 fragments of the Phobos probe with a total weight of up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) would survive the re-entry and plummet to Earth.

Klinkrad agreed with that assessment, adding that about 100 metric tons of space junk fall on Earth every year. “This is 200 kilograms out of these 100 tons,” he said.

The Phobos-Ground weighed 13.5 metric tons (14.9 tons), and that included a load of 11 metric tons (12 tons) of highly toxic rocket fuel intended for the long journey to the Martian moon of Phobos and left unused as the probe got stranded in orbit around Earth.

Roscosmos said that all of the fuel will burn up on re-entry, a forecast Klinkrad said was supported by calculations done by NASA and the ESA. He said the craft’s tanks are made of aluminum alloy that has a very low melting temperature, and they will burst at an altitude of more than 100 kilometers (60 miles).

The space era has seen far larger spacecraft crash. NASA’s Skylab space station that went down in 1979 weighed 77 metric tons (85 tons) and Russia’s Mir space station that de-orbited in 2001 weighed about 130 metric tons (143 tons). Their descent fueled fears around the world, but the wreckage of both fell far away from populated areas.

The Phobos-Ground was Russia’s most expensive and the most ambitious space mission since Soviet times. Its mission to the crater-dented, potato-shaped Martian moon was to give scientists precious materials that could shed more light on the genesis of the solar system.

Russia’s space chief has acknowledged the Phobos-Ground mission was ill-prepared, but said that Roscosmos had to give it the go-ahead so as not to miss the limited Earth-to-Mars launch window.

Its predecessor, Mars-96, which was built by the same Moscow-based NPO Lavochkin company, experienced an engine failure and crashed shortly after its launch in 1996. Its crash drew strong international fears because of around 200 grams of plutonium onboard. The craft eventually showered its fragments over the Chile-Bolivia border in the Andes Mountains, and the pieces were never recovered.

The worst ever radiation spill from a derelict space vehicle came in January 1978 when the nuclear-powered Cosmos 954 satellite crashed over northwestern Canada. The Soviets claimed the craft completely burned up on re-entry, but a massive recovery effort by Canadian authorities recovered a dozen fragments, most of which were radioactive.

The Phobos-Ground also contained a tiny quantity of the radioactive metal Cobalt-57 in one of its instruments, but Roscosmos said it poses no threat of radioactive contamination.

The spacecraft also carried a small cylinder with a collection of microbes as part of an experiment by the Pasadena, California-based Planetary Society that designed to explore whether they can survive interplanetary travel. The cylinder is attached to a capsule that was supposed to deliver Phobos ground samples back to Earth.

Igor Marinin, the editor of Russia’s Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine, said on Russia’s NTV television that it would likely be destroyed.

Comments (22)

  • cyclops
    Posted on January 16, 2012 at 9:26am

    Are we sure it didn’t hit that beach front vacation property in Hawaii?………………….LOL!!!!!!

    Report Post » cyclops  
  • 321481
    Posted on January 15, 2012 at 10:47pm

    And these are the people that we depend on to get our Astronauts to our space station, how stupid can we get!!!

    Report Post »  
    • nzkiwi
      Posted on January 16, 2012 at 5:41am

      Yes. I used to hold the Chinese in contempt for their lack of concern about quality. That contempt did not extend to their women – I married one of them.

      My wife suspected that I was a subtle racsist.

      One night we watched the launch of a Chines rocket taking a communications satillite into orbit. A spectacular launch, followed by a u-turn and high powered drive into the surface of our planet.

      I turned to my wife and said “Made in China”.

      Guess how many times I got laid that week.

      I know that we were talking about Russians, but…

      Report Post »  
    • IMPEACHBHO
      Posted on January 16, 2012 at 3:11pm

      Yes, it is so sad how BHO cut to NASA to shreds.
      http://youtu.be/7kqVZUCRth0?t=7m13s

      Report Post » IMPEACHBHO  
  • ddg7
    Posted on January 15, 2012 at 9:03pm

    If this had been U.S. space junk the U.N., and Greenpeace would be calling for reparations and an apology. Since it‘s the Ruskies who would just say ’stuff it’ this is a non-story. If a republican was President you could add the NY Times and democrats to the faux outrage. Move along. Nothing to see here.

    Report Post »  
  • mpthegreek
    Posted on January 15, 2012 at 6:13pm

    Ever consider we quit going to space because we were told to stop. That’s why Russian brockets keep failing. Just a thought.

    Report Post »  
  • patspeak
    Posted on January 15, 2012 at 5:35pm

    Forget about NASA until Obama is history. Imagine a President that says it’s OK for American Asronauts to travel in space with Cosmonaunts. I‘m sure some sick mined people will agree it’s “Good to go, blast off, take off!

    Report Post » patspeak  
    • pavepaws
      Posted on January 15, 2012 at 7:24pm

      Sooooooooooooooo, there’s nothing to worry about. Period. Right…

      Report Post »  
  • don young
    Posted on January 15, 2012 at 4:15pm

    Tell obama to go up next to show the american people how safe it is to go into space with the made in china, russian rocket.

    Report Post »  
  • COFemale
    Posted on January 15, 2012 at 3:53pm

    So was the Russian satellite made in China?

    Report Post » COFemale  
  • CatB
    Posted on January 15, 2012 at 2:27pm

    Remember NASA is now a Muslim outreach agency .. Not a Space agency. Yes .. this arrangement with the Russians has disaster written all over it.

    Report Post »  
    • TSUNAMI-22
      Posted on January 15, 2012 at 2:39pm

      So basically the muslims may eventually have access to weapons delivery technology through NASA’s research in rocket engineering and guidance systems?

      Why doesn’t Obama just give them a Minute Man Missile and be done with it?

      Report Post »  
    • 13th Imam
      Posted on January 15, 2012 at 2:44pm

      Patience 22

      Rome wasn’t destroyed in a day

      Report Post » 13th Imam  
    • TomFerrari
      Posted on January 15, 2012 at 3:24pm

      @13th…
      Lol

      Report Post » TomFerrari  
    • TSUNAMI-22
      Posted on January 16, 2012 at 4:30pm

      @ 13th Imam

      Patience 22

      Rome wasn’t destroyed in a day
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      Rome wasn’t destroyed by nuclear weaponry either, but it WAS destroyed.

      Report Post »  
  • Detroit paperboy
    Posted on January 15, 2012 at 2:18pm

    Lots of Russian space failures lately, and they are now carrying our people into space… Godspeed .

    Report Post »  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on January 15, 2012 at 2:24pm

      @Detroit paperboy
      Go back to your post at 1:14 pm on “Why I hate Releigion story and read my reply. You might like it. :)

      Report Post » The-Monk  
    • Lord_Frostwind
      Posted on January 15, 2012 at 8:54pm

      What is this, the third rocket the Russians have lost since we grounded the Shuttle fleet? Three strikes you’re out ruskies. I need Donald Trump to tell them “they’re fired!”

      Report Post » Lord_Frostwind  
    • look73
      Posted on January 16, 2012 at 12:15pm

      откажитесь

      Report Post » look73  
  • 13th Imam
    Posted on January 15, 2012 at 2:17pm

    This Russian Space Junk crossed the US mainland a few times a day.It could have come down anywhere here. This is the country we rely on for our Space access?? Where is the JFK of our day??

    Report Post » 13th Imam  

Sign In To Post Comments! Sign In

Sign Up For Our Newsletter!

Glenn Beck Radio

Listen to Glenn Beck 24/7 Listen Now
Restoring Love