Some sources are saying “Crippled Russian space probe could crash back to Earth” and “most toxic falling satellite ever”. Any thoughts, Phil, on when exactly we should begin to panic?

Most toxic falling satellite ever? I doubt it.
(Read up on Kosmos 954 in particular)

I seriously doubt it, but I really hope they can. The idea of a return mission from Phobos is really exciting to me.

“At 16:35 Moscow Time (7:35 EST), a poster on Astronomy.ru web forum reported that new attempts to escape Earth orbit would be conducted between 03:00 and 05:00 Moscow Time on Thursday, November 10 (6 p.m. – 8 p.m. EST on Wednesday). According to Interfax news agency, Phobos-Grunt was expected to enter the range of Russian ground control stations at around 21:30 Moscow Time (12:30 p.m. EST), however only a ground station in Baikonur was equipped to downlink all necessary telemetry data and transmit new commands for the upcoming maneuver.”

Wish them luck!

Dr. Plait,
A question about the image: There appear to be a variety of linear striations across the surface of the moon. What causes these? Some are vertical while others are horizontal.

The BA said:

. . . its surface is weird, as you can see in the picture above. It’s lined with grooves, which may have formed when asteroid impacts on Mars below blasted up material, which the tiny rock then plowed through. That’s still being argued about. A sample return might help resolve issues like that (for example, finding clear evidence of Martian minerals in Phobos samples).

Er, Dave, you did read the OP, right?

At least it’s managed to orient its solar panels towards the sun and is charging its batteries. That buys Roscosmos/Lavochkin/IKI RAN some time to fix the issue.

“On November 9, at 01:17 Moscow Time, a project representative reported that telemetry from the spacecraft had been received, confirming that onboard batteries had been recharging and the spacecraft had been oriented toward the Sun. Russian military tracking assets and NASA ground facilities were reportedly involved in the mission.

November 9 operations

Only on the afternoon, November 9, Roskosmos issued an official press-release stating that two first post-launch contacts with the spacecraft had showed normal operations of the spacecraft according to the flight plan. However engine firings planned beyond the range of ground stations did not take place. Currently, all necessary parameters of the spacecraft motion had been determined, the statement said, however due to low orbit of the spacecraft it would not reenter the range of Russian ground stations until 23:00 Moscow Time (14:00 EST) on November 9. Based on the analysis of data, Roskosmos promised to prepare and upload onboard all necessary commands for the resumption of orbital maneuvers. Most importantly, the agency assured that a more accurate estimate of the mission’s orbital parameters and power supplies onboard the spacecraft had provided two weeks for the transmission of new instructions to Phobos-Grunt.”

Link: http://www.russianspaceweb.com/phobos_grunt_launch.html

Though operating a starship while drinking alcohol maybe fun! It is not allowed Wzrd1. Galactic penal code 180P.R.00.F clearly states this. Two warp drives have been deducted from your credit.

Now lets get some software and hardware up and running or in this case, out of orbit and flying.

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.interfax.ru%2Fsociety%2Fnews.asp%3Fid%3D215883

oops! It appears that may be the case.

As for the irregular scratch at that odd angle, I was hoping nobody noticed that fender bender… I was taking my turn at the helm of the USS Boobyprize and kind of sideswiped the moon while orbiting Mars. Damned thing swerved right into my path, I swear!
There goes my starship pilot insurance rates through the roof!

If that’s correct then my commiserations and sympathies go to all those involved.

*****

Thinking Mars missions it’s getting near time for the launch of the Curiousity rover – formerly known as the Mars Science laboratory or MSL – now too.

That’s been shifted onto the launch pad in readiness already according to the NASA website – click on my name here for source.

Liftoff is scheduled for November 25th. Just 16 days, 55 minutes, 25 seconds till go for that one.

Also, is it absurd to think that the striations could come from interstellar travel “winds?” creating grooves where lightly packed material is then “blown off”?

I was thinking that if many objects form together to make a larger object then there is going to be different materials of different consistencies. This could leave dusty borders (so to speak) which then could be blown off by simply traveling through space. Although I guess we would not get such a linear pattern of the grooves.

However, thinking that collisions formed these striations would assume that a body was constantly in contact with the surface of Phobos to create such a linear groove. (perhaps under this reasoning the gravity of Phobos is able to keep a body ‘touching’ its surface as it skims over it and creates these grooves.