Originally posted by SolidGoal
I think that "cosmic radiation" is a bogus excuse.
A radar blast frying a sensitive antenna ? Far-fetched but more plausible than just basic cosmic radiation. This was a space probe designed to go to mars FFS. It would be obviously be bathed in those cosmic rays.

From the Register article :

Those involved in the Phobos-Grunt project appear to be scrambling for some external reason why the mission may have failed, particularly since their president practically promised that heads will roll over the whole thing.

But scientists don't seem to think this latest excuse is any better than the US-megawatt-radar one. A source in the space industry told RIA Novosti a few hours after Popovkin's announcement of the findings that the idea that Phobos-Grunt hadn't had any protection from cosmic radiation was "ridiculous".

Are you an engineer or in some other way educated to be able to state without a doubt about the effects of radar and/or cosmic radiations effects on antennas? Or are you only speculating on your own self educated guess?

The Challenger was made, designed and tested. We all know what happened to it and the cause. Why is it not possible that there are design flaws in the probe as well?

Originally posted by zarlaan


Are you an engineer or in some other way educated to be able to state without a doubt about the effects of radar and/or cosmic radiations effects on antennas? Or are you only speculating on your own self educated guess?

Yes, I have a degree in electrical engineering.
And yes this was an educated assumption.
I am familiar with issues encountered during space exploration. I have been following space exploration since I was a kid (I'm 38 now).
Yes I'm an amateur/enthusiast. So take it like you want.

The Challenger was made, designed and tested. We all know what happened to it and the cause. Why is it not possible that there are design flaws in the probe as well?

Design flaw. Absolutely plausible.
With challenger, we had video feedback, pieces that were recuperated, etc. It was "relatively" easy to find the cause.
The sad thing about the probe is, it is now destroyed. We can only rely on telemetry relayed back to find the cause.
I read in a article (I think it was from space.com, sorry if I can't trace it back) that the electronic equipment in the probe was outdated for numerous reasons.

I still stand by one of my previous post were I said the fault was likely due to an engineering problem. Be it shielding, redundancy of systems or corruption of the base code.
Now about the cause of these problems ? Well we can all speculate here, unless someone from the Russian space agency can pop up on ATS and enlighten us.

Cheers