Quote:
Originally Posted by Mugge
Russia's Phobos-Grunt probe suffers engine (maybe software) failure and is stuck in earth orbit. The Russians have three days to fix the problem before the batteries run out.
An American rocket scientist said to a Danish newspaper that the 14 ton spacecraft carries 7 tons of highly toxic fuel (hydrazine?), potentially making it the most dangerous object to ever crash back onto Earth. Maybe it's just me being too much of a layman, but what kind of rocket fuel chemical can survive reentry on a craft with no heat shields. I'm pretty sure that it's not the fuel itself that can survive reentry, but even the toxic byproducts must get scorched away. Right?
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Hydrazine tanks are generally Titanium spheres... which are remarkably good at surviving reentry due to heat resistance of material and pressure resistance of spherical design.
There's a wee bit of Cobalt in one of the experiments, too... but not enough to worry about radioactive fallout or serious contamination.
Still... the Russkies are 0-for-16 or so on Mars missions in the last few decades. This doesn't help that record. And makes the Chinese piggyback mission 0-for-1.
Bet the Chinese are wishing they hitched their ride with NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity rover mission due to launch Nov 25th) instead.
