Russian Mars probe Phobos-Grunt, stranded in Earth orbit since its main engines failed to fire after launch on Nov. 8th, is beginning to sink back into the atmosphere. Analysts expect re-entry to occur sometime in early to mid-January 2012. Until then, it is possible
For all our readers that use satellite images CIMSS Satellite blog announced today that at 15:46 UTC on 06 December 2011, GOES-15 replaced GOES-11 as the operational GOES-West satellite. GOES-11 (launched in 2000, and operational since 2006) was one of the older
The European Space Agency announced on Dec. 2 that it will stop trying to contact the stranded Russian Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, which has been stuck in the wrong orbit for almost a month now. So it looks like it will fall to Earth. Russia’s Phobos-Grunt probe launched
Last week, ESA’s ground station in Perth, Australia added a feedhorn antenna to existing one and succeeded in communicating with Phobos-Grunt on two successive days. But all attempts to renew the contact failed since then. Yesterday station in Perth gave another try
The European Space Agency will once again attempt to call the Russian Phobos-Grunt spacecraft tonight (Nov. 29), after officials received no response yesterday. The probe has been stranded in the wrong orbit since it was launched on November 8.A ground station in
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has stopped acquiring images from the 27-year-old Landsat 5 Earth observation satellite due to a rapidly degrading electronic component.Landsat 5 was launched in 1984 and designed to last 3 years. The USGS assumed operation of
Astronomers at the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium in Australia took incredible time-lapse video . The sequence shows a plume drifting against the background stars, probably caused by venting from the Centaur rocket stage that sent the Mars Science
The ROSAT X-ray observatory, launched in 1990 by NASA and managed for years by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), will return to Earth within the next two weeks. Current best estimates place the re-entry between Oct. 22nd and 24th over an unknown part of
Recently lost ENVISAT still shows no signs of “life”. While satellite observing community wait for some news lets take a look at breathtaking imagery of land and oceans by Envisat’s optical and radar instruments. The satellite is orbiting 497 miles above the
