Initially, Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, had difficulties contacting the probe at all.
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In less stellar news, NASA was forced to extend its partnership with the Russian space agency Roscosmos until 2017.
Roscosmos engineers have been working furiously to regain communication with the probe so they can regain control and fire the boosters.
The national space agency, Roscosmos, said scientists believed one meteoroid had entered the atmosphere, where it burned and disintegrated into fragments.
Prior to that mission, Roscosmos will make two unmanned Soyuz launches, "either an automated one or a freighter or both, " he said.
Both the ESA and Roscosmos were able to communicate with Phobos-Grunt while it was in orbit and send commands to the probe.
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The national space agency, Roscosmos, said scientists believed one meteoroid had entered the atmosphere, where it burned and disintegrated into fragments, according to RIA Novosti.
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Congrats to the NASA and Roscosmos teams on a successful mission.
Vladimir Popovkin took over as the head of Roscosmos in April.
This is an impressive recovery for Russian space agency Roscosmos.
Indeed, Roscosmos officials acknowledged yesterday that success was unlikely.
The head of space agency Roscosmos said that an investigation into the short-lived spacecraft had discovered that radiation caused a glitch in the onboard computer system, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
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According to Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin, the space agency has about two weeks to communicate with the probe and give it the commands to fire its boosters and set course for Phobos.
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Alexei Krasnov of the space agency, Roscosmos, said the next manned mission, originally planned to launch on September 22, now would occur in late October or early November, according to the RIA Novosti report.
Roscosmos last June began a Mars flight simulation program, locking three Russians, two Europeans and a Chinese astronaut in an 18, 800-square-foot, five-module complex to live there in isolation for 17 months, Bloomberg reported on April 5.
The Progress M-12M that went down last week was to deliver more than 3.8 tons of cargo to the space station crew, including food supplies, medical equipment, personal hygiene items and scientific equipment needed for experiments, according to Roscosmos and space officials.
Despite valiant efforts by Roscosmos and other space agencies, the Russian probe Phobos-Grunt will be falling back to Earth over the weekend, most likely on Sunday night, according to projections by the Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies at the Aerospace Corporation.
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Being on the science team, however, out of contact with the people who are controlling the mission, it is tempting to consider how some of the science intended for the mission might be salvaged, in the event that the Roscosmos controllers succeed in recovering the spacecraft, but only partially.
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