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Lost Martian probe Phobos-Grunt has gone back to its silent orbiting again, remaining unresponsive to Russian space agency attempts to contact it on Monday night.
Roscosmos was trying to order the module to raise its orbit, but the probe didn't respond, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
"The sessions, which have been taken to issue commands to increase the altitude of the probe, did not lead to positive results," a Roscosmos spokesperson said.
He added that the agency would double its efforts.
The boffins want to lift Phobos-Grunt's orbit because it would increase the window of opportunity during which earth-to-space communication centres can reach it.
Originally posted by RoswellCityLimits
Them Phobos missions just don't pan out, eh?
Oh, well! Back to the drawing board!
Originally posted by apacheman
So much for the roboticists' "further, faster, cheaper" mantra.
Robots aren't cheaper than manned missions when you factor in their failure rates.
Screw robots, I mean they have a place, but nothing replaces a human being for on-the-spot fixes.
Want to explore Mars?
Train and send humans, not robots, and you'll get thousands of times more return on the investment.
Originally posted by apacheman
reply to post by Frira
The US robotic failure rate is fairly high, too: several Mars probes crashed or went missing.