Russian Space Agency Expects Its Mars Probe Debris To Earth On Sunday

On Thursday, the Russian space agency said that it was expecting its failed Mars space probe debris to fall to earth from Sunday to Monday and they are hoping it will fall into the Indian Ocean.

According to the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, on Wednesday it was reported that the midpoint in a three day window when the Mars probe debris is expected to fall when the spacecraft will be above the ocean, about 1,050 miles west of Jakarta, but added that they predict better as the probe’s orbit draws closer to our Earth.

Roscosmos has predicted the debris could fall somewhere along a broad swath between 51.4 degrees north and 51.4 degrees south, and added that spares most of Russia’s ground territory with Scandinavia and a large part of Canada.

The $170-million probe of Russia was to travel around one of Mars’ two moons, Phobos, but became cut off while orbiting Earth after its launch on November 9. Russian and the European Space Agency (ESA) scientists and engineers have tried but failed to propel the spacecraft toward its target.

The space agency said that the probe weighs 14.6 tons, which includes 12 tons of highly toxic fuel and they warned that if the fuel has frozen, then it could endure re-entry during the atmosphere and cause a severe risk if it collapses over inhabited regions. Roscosmos reported that a tiny quantity of Cobalt-57, which is a radioactive metal contained in one of the craft’s instruments, will not cause the threat of radioactive contamination.

Russian media reported that this craft failure is one of a series of disasters that marred the Russian celebration of its golden jubilee since Yuri Gagarin’s ground-breaking first human space flight last year and it has hurt Russia’s pride.

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Tags: Canada, Cobalt-57, debris, Indian Ocean, Jakarta, Mars, Roscosmos, Russia, Scandinavia, space agency, space probe, spacecraft, Yuri Gagarin