It's Okay To Be Smart

Russia’s Phobos-Grunt Failure: Whose House Will It Fall On?

Today marks the suspected “closing” of the window for the failed Russian Mars mission to have a shot at reaching the red planet. The orbital alignments that would allow for a slingshot path to Mars will not be favorable for many months.

While European officials are assisting the Russians in figuring out exactly where the dead satellite is located, stuck in Earth orbit. It’s pretty clear that this mission is as dead as the turkey I ate last week, so what next?

A major concern is whether this 17-ton craft will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere any time soon, and exactly where that might happen. Odds are that it would hit water (70% of the Earth is covered in the stuff), but its fuel tanks could be a problem. For one thing, they’re made of high-temperature resistant metals. They also happen to be full of 7 or so tons of highly toxic and explosive hydrazine fuel. Not what you want raining on your house.

And even though Russia hasn’t successfully launched a mission to Mars since before 1960 (something like 17 failures in a row, now), they seem to think that the Moon would be within reach for their next try, perhaps even with people onboard.

Not one for mincing words, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has threatened the scientists responsible for this failure with prison and extreme punishment. But hey, at least he’s not calling for them to be shot, right?:

I am not suggesting putting them up against the wall like under Josef Vissarionovich (Stalin), but seriously punish either financially or, if the fault is obvious, it could be a disciplinary or even criminal punishment.

Finally, it wouldn’t be a good space story without some wacko somewhere blaming a U.S. research station for killing the satellite with our Top Secret Radio Death Ray (yes, really …)

More of my previous posts on this unfortunate step backwards for Russian science here.

(image via RIA Novosti)

Source: en.ria.ru