Russian Mars probe stuck in Orbit

[brian577]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/10/s...save-mars-probe-after-launch-mishap.html?_r=1

If only we had a ship capable of capturing objects in orbit and returning them to Earth. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to hope the Russians can get it back on course so it and it's toxic fuel doesn't come crashing back to Earth.

 

[sojourner]

If only that ship were capable of being launched on less than 3 days (or 3 weeks, or 3 months) notice.

 

[diankra]

And even when it was up and flying, the shuttle could only be used to retrieve objects under some sort of control (or at least, that's all the safety constraints allowed it to do). There are concept sketches of how it might retrieve out of control, tumbling, satellites from the early 1970s design stage, but they weren't really taken up.

 

[SPCTRE]

Yeah, serves them right for withdrawing funds from tractor beam development.

Wait, wrong forum.

 

[Lindley]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/10/s...save-mars-probe-after-launch-mishap.html?_r=1

If only we had a ship capable of capturing objects in orbit and returning them to Earth. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to hope the Russians can get it back on course so it and it's toxic fuel doesn't come crashing back to Earth.

The article doesn't say whether or not its current orbit is one which would be reachable by the Shuttle even if it were still flying. The thing had a fairly limited range of reachable orbits (one of the reasons the ISS is where it is).

 

[Dukhat]

If only we had a ship capable of capturing objects in orbit and returning them to Earth.

This is nowhere near as easy as you're making it sound.

 

[The Dominion]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/10/s...save-mars-probe-after-launch-mishap.html?_r=1

If only we had a ship capable of capturing objects in orbit and returning them to Earth. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to hope the Russians can get it back on course so it and it's toxic fuel doesn't come crashing back to Earth.

It'll burn up in orbit, they even said it wasn't posing a threat.

 

[sojourner]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/10/s...save-mars-probe-after-launch-mishap.html?_r=1

If only we had a ship capable of capturing objects in orbit and returning them to Earth. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to hope the Russians can get it back on course so it and it's toxic fuel doesn't come crashing back to Earth.

The article doesn't say whether or not its current orbit is one which would be reachable by the Shuttle even if it were still flying. The thing had a fairly limited range of reachable orbits (one of the reasons the ISS is where it is).

it's in a fairly elliptical orbit with the perigee being about 125 miles and apogee around 300 miles. Not sure if the shuttle could match that orbit or if they would even allow it to based on safety regulations.

 

[Lindley]

Well, the Shuttle could certainly reach that altitude, but I was wondering more about the orbital inclination. Are any of the Shuttle launch sites even suitable for insertion to the appropriate orbit?

 

[Ayelbourne]

Wow, the probe didn't even make it out of orbit this time?

Must be a new record. Those Russians seem to be real experts in fucking up their Mars missions.

 

[MANT!]

The Soviet/Russian record on Mars Probes is rather bad..
of about 20 missions launched by them...
1 would be considered fully successful, 1971's Mars 3 returned data from a lander..but only for 10 seconds...Most ended up as launch failures..

The USA has a much better record..

18 attempts..13 successful missions..

ESA has a better record, 2 launches..1 partial success and 1 full success..

if one wants to count, the UK (Beagle) and Japan have a 100 % failure rate as each probe those nations sent, failed.

http://www.universe-galaxies-stars.com/Exploration_of_Mars_print.html

Perhaps the Russians need to send their probes on US rockets (or ESA ones)..

 

[Lindley]

Perhaps the Russians need to send their probes on US rockets (or ESA ones)..

The rocket wasn't the problem. The difficulty was that for some reason, the probe wasn't able to lock on to the correct star patterns to guide its navigation.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

I think this proves once and for all that Mars is cursed.

Perhaps Sutekh has something to do with it?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The difficulty was that for some reason, the probe wasn't able to lock on to the correct star patterns to guide its navigation.

Blinded by space junk!!!!!

OK, I have no idea whether that's really true, but I had to shout it out.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Maybe it was just the Moon's gravitational field interfering with the spacecraft instruments by obscuring the warp signature of Mars?