One of the coolest blank missions of late clock time , to be carried out by Russia ’s Phobos - Grunt , failed last November . Now the abortive probe has clank - landed in the Pacific Ocean .
My Favorite Space Mission Fails But There ’s Still Hope
According to Russiannews report from Ria Novosti , the 13 - ton spacecraft fell to Earth at around 12:45pm EST on January 15 . It shoot down in an empty stretch of the Pacific , 776 international nautical mile west of the island of Wellington .
We ’ve known that it was live to crash into the major planet for mean solar day , but it was uncertain on the button where the workmanship would strike .
https://gizmodo.com/image-of-13-ton-russian-spacecraft-as-it-falls-to-earth-5876178
Scientific American suggeststhat the probe most likely break apart as it re - entered , with most of its components burn off up during the ancestry . Some of the larger element doubtlessly last , but as yet its not absolved how many piece actually fell to earth .
Russian official have been keen to stress that the probe ’s Brobdingnagian source of toxic fuel would have burnt up high over Earth , so presents no peril to the major planet . That ’s been partly confirmed by Nick Johnson , chief scientist of NASA ’s Orbital Debris Program Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston , whotold Scientific American :
“ They did acknowledge too soon on that the [ fuel ] tanks are made of atomic number 13 . Aluminum rarely survives re - entry , so there ’s no reason to really doubt them . ”
as well , the tiny amount of radioactive stuff aboard Phobos - Grunt , about 10 micrograms of Cobalt-57 , is almost certainly nothing to worry about . So , that ’s a respite . [ Scientific AmericaandRia Novosti ]
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