A Russian probe bound for a Martian moon, and carrying hi-tech equipment developed by Hong Kong and mainland scientists, veered off course yesterday in what Chinese experts called a 'disastrous misstep'. Engine failure appeared to be the cause.
The experts said the incident complicated the politically sensitive first joint space venture between China and Russia, and added uncertainty to China's independent Mars-exploration efforts.
The Chinese scientists involved expressed disappointment, concern and disbelief. 'We spent 10 years on the project,' said Dr Ng Tze-chuen, a Polytechnic University (PolyU) fellow and founder of the Russia-HK venture. 'Though we know Russia has had no luck with Mars, I did not anticipate that the probe would go wrong on the first leg of its journey.'
After separating from its launch vehicle, the unmanned Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, whose mission was to bring back a soil sample from the Martian moon Phobos, lost its connection with ground command and failed to reach its designated orbit, the Interfax news agency said.
The craft held a soil-sampling device from PolyU and a mainland-designed Mars orbiter, the Yinghuo-1.
Russian space agency chief Vladimir Popovkin said that after restoring communication and doing some analysis, they narrowed the problem down to the spacecraft's main thruster. 'The engine did not fire - neither the first nor the second burn occurred,' said Popovkin, at Russia's Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan, according to Interfax.
Popovkin said Russian space authorities would try to reset the craft's computer to ignite the rocket, but if they failed to complete the task in three days, batteries would die.