Russia's Phobos-Grunt Mission to Mars is Stuck in Earth Orbit After Engines Fail to Fire

told you so

-Knock knock
-Who's there?
-The Doctor.
-Doctor Who?
-Yes

And these are the guys we're relying on to get our astronauts and equipment to space? Give me a break!

Damn! Now we'll never get those microbes onto Phobos. Roscosmos has really gotta step it's game up. We're relying on them to send astronauts into LEO. If they got software and hardware issues this will spell disaster for future manned flights.

Lets hope they get it working...

haha
Only thing good about Russia is the women

I don't care how many unmanned vehicles they bust up. The one thing I don't want to wake up to is the news of several people dying on another launch or re-entry attempt.

Spaceflight advocacy is already at an all time low. The death of a few more astronauts will be just enough to kill support of human spaceflight all together.

Roscosmos needs to get their s### right if we're going to trust them with the lives of scientists, engineers, and technicians bound for space (this includes their own countrymen).

@Delkomatic

I've heard Ukraine is where it's at.

There was a time I was only too happy to hear of yet another Russian Mars Mission failure. Mars96 was the first time I instead felt sympathy. Now, I feel as anxious as any of them to hear word that the mission, or any part of it can continue successfully. C'mon comrades, you can do it!

lol im sorry i just had to laugh.

@Delkomatic, pheonix1012

yep you gotta love east European women!!

_________________
The people of the world only divide into two kinds, One sort with brains who hold no religion, The other with religion and no brain.

- Abu-al-Ala al-Marri

@JediMindset

Actually, I'm more into middle-eastern and latin women. Thing of beauty.

I like to see the next USA probe that lands on Mars or even orbit Mars to possess a high power laser. Each time Russia shots off another probe to Mars, we power up the old laser and zap into crash landing. They are so used to messing up their probes; they never suspect it was us, lol.
Ooops, I have said to much.

Go suck your Bawls JediMindSh'I't

@Grunt, you probably just revealed the plan for space dominance D'oh!!

I was worried that it would get lost on the way to Mars, kind of a non-issue now :-/

For the sake of science, I hope they grunt this little guy out of earth orbit and onto phobos. I have been envious for some time about the prospect of the Russians being the first nation to return materials from a martian moon. It should have been NASA, but our program can't do everything, and often has its priorities completely mixed up.

A phobos landing is another step toward becoming an interplanetary species, so let's hope they get lucky and succeed.

It's a shame mankind waste money on space when were not involved enough yet to dare show our faces to other civilizations anywhere. Mankind has a long way to go back here on planet earth which is where we need to focus our energies. NASA should be focusing on deep sea ventures instead.

@pheonix1012
yep also Asian and African. come to think about it, i love them all!!

@rg-5
why do you say such mean things?

_________________
The people of the world only divide into two kinds, One sort with brains who hold no religion, The other with religion and no brain.

- Abu-al-Ala al-Marri

Probes are wonderful. ;)

Eventually we will develop AI to be able to resolve much of these issues by itself, saving us poor humans the headache of going through reams of code trying to figure out where the glitch is. A AI could intercept a issue and attempt to make adjustments on the fly to correct issues, even re-programming aspects of itself.

The AI I am talking about is proper AI, like perhaps that on 2001 space odyssey but without the talking and irrational behaviour :)

Isn't this something like the third failed Russian launch in as many months?

And we rely on them to get our astronauts into orbit. So comforting...

But getting a person into LEO is a little easier and much more comfortable than sending a probe to Phobos. We have never been there before. We've been to LEO. Stop being so dramatic. Our astronauts are fine. And YOU'RE GOING INTO OUTER SPACE. IF YOU AREN'T AWARE OF THE DANGERS ALREADY, CHOOSE A NEW PROFESSION.

Seriously, everyone is so scared of anything new. I don't know why our country has this prior reservation on space exploration, but we don't understand a fraction of what makes up our universe. It's our duty as a capable species to investigate and unlock the true secrets of our universe. Otherwise we're just wasting our time, right? Because if it weren't for the universe, there'd be no time. Just saying.

Hmmmm

WhatIF: It was suppose to fail and orbit around earth..(Spy satelite)
Just a WhatIF....

@krocks

That would definitely save face for Russian technological competence and fall right in line with mass government think type as it refers to priorities in aerospace operations.

@elgsus

I understand and agree with your sentiment. However, too many failures outweighing success in the trial and error process only leads to legislatures questioning the validity of something they believe they have no stake in (space). In order to continue to see improvements on the human reach for the stars, success is preferable to failure, because success illicits a laxadaisical uninspired response from the masses. Failure illicits the melodramatic hyperactive response of millions going down the drain, and/or the loss of human life, threatening to destroy progress so that such travesties never happen again.

@gizmowiz

NASA is already focused on deep space ventures. What do you think Spitzer, Kepler, Hubble, Webb, WISE, PAMELA, Chandra, and TPF are? With that continuous sentiment, we'll never expand beyond this planet. We'll die here.

People keep waiting for the world to change into an imperfect, non-universal, concept of perfection in humanity that will (by natural design) never happen. In the mean time, people forget that through time since our inception. This is because, locally, people look at the negative and keep saying, "We're not ready for this." This world is so much more different than it was 30 years ago, let alone 300, 3,000, or 300,000 years ago (when we were a violent, uncivilized hunter-gatherer species).

You know how you can tell what humanity is ready for? When we have a choice in matters. Since the 1950s we have had a choice as to whether or not we wish to expand our race beyond Earth. Before we had rockets and airplanes, we didn't even have the option so we weren't ready for it. We're ready now! We've been ready for half a century! People are ready for what they tell themselves they are. Not reaching out into space is on par with an agoraphobic choosing not to leave the house. Let the people who wish to go out venture freely, and let the minority staying indoors let life pass them by.

@JediMindset

DITTO!

@gizmowiz

Clarity on one particular statement:

"people forget that through time since our inception thing have gotten relatively better."

To add on, just analyze the more positive aspects of the world today (in it's complexity) and look at how in other instances in history, thing were not the same as they have been in this day and age.

We've been in a state of an ever increasing utopia since the end of the Cold War. I say this in the term of academic international collaborations, international organizations that deliberate on global issues, and compose, interpret, and enforce international law. It's not perfect, but it's kinda the same concept Gene Roddenberry wrote about when he made Star Trek. We even have an internationally constructed Space Station manned by expeditions composed of crews with astronauts from other countries. We're just about living it right now. We just have yet to globally connect other countries in the international community (United Earth if you will) and compose international space expeditions that journey into outer space.

@ phoenix1012- along those lines, I wonder if an international effort could send something (manned or unmanned) up in time to save it?

National Aquanautics and Sea Administration???

Sure, why not?!

Damn I think my comment jinxed it for the Russians, so I make my correction:

In Soviet Russia, Mars Probe orbits you!

" Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." Albert Einstein