just in. European Space Agency establishes contact with Phobos-Grunt//

The European Space Agency has received the first signal from Russia's unmanned Phobos-Gunt spacecraft bound for a moon of Mars since it got stuck in Earth's orbit two weeks ago, officials said Wednesday, raising hope that the mission might be saved.

Russia's space agency said an ESA tracking facility in Australia got the signal from the Phobos-Ground probe early Wednesday in the western city of Perth. The $170 million craft became stranded in orbit after its thrusters failed to fire following the Nov. 9 launch to send it on its path to one of Mars' two moons, Phobos. The initial contact raised hopes of preventing the probe from crashing back to Earth


[link to www.dailygalaxy.com]

I hope the Russians can fix the problems with Phobus-Grunt, but even if the probe is brought back under control, the time window for reaching Mars is closed. Theoretically it is able to reach the planet but landing on Phobos is not possile anymore, according to Russian specialists.

When i read it I tought they estabilished contact with an alien space ship on phobos and decided to call the aliens Phobo grunts :s