Radiation cited in Mars probe failure
Source: Agencies |
February 1, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
The head of Russia's space agency said yesterday that cosmic radiation was the most likely cause of the failure of a Mars moon probe that crashed to Earth this month, and suggested that a low-quality imported component may have been vulnerable to the radiation.
The unmanned probe was to have gone to the Mars moon of Phobos, taken soil samples and brought them back. But it became stuck in the Earth's orbit soon after its launch on November 9. It fell out of orbit on January 15, reportedly off the coast of Chile, but no fragments have been found.
The failure was a severe embarrassment to Russia, and space agency head Vladimir Popovkin initially suggested it could have been due to foreign sabotage.
But Russian news agencies yesterday quoted him as saying an investigation showed the probable cause was "localized influence of heavily radiated space particles."
Popovkin said two units of the Phobos-Ground probe's onboard computer system went into an energy-saving "restart" mode, apparently due to the radiation, while the craft was in its second orbital circuit.
Popovkin said that some microchips used on the craft were imported and possibly of inadequate quality to resist radiation. He did not specify where the chips were manufactured.
The unmanned probe was to have gone to the Mars moon of Phobos, taken soil samples and brought them back. But it became stuck in the Earth's orbit soon after its launch on November 9. It fell out of orbit on January 15, reportedly off the coast of Chile, but no fragments have been found.
The failure was a severe embarrassment to Russia, and space agency head Vladimir Popovkin initially suggested it could have been due to foreign sabotage.
But Russian news agencies yesterday quoted him as saying an investigation showed the probable cause was "localized influence of heavily radiated space particles."
Popovkin said two units of the Phobos-Ground probe's onboard computer system went into an energy-saving "restart" mode, apparently due to the radiation, while the craft was in its second orbital circuit.
Popovkin said that some microchips used on the craft were imported and possibly of inadequate quality to resist radiation. He did not specify where the chips were manufactured.
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