Russia loses chances for flight to Mars

The time period when the lost Phobos-Ground interplanetary space station could be sent to Mars ends on Monday, November 21. There will be no sense in the attempts to establish connection with the spacecraft afterwards, a source at the Russian space industry told RIA Novosti. Even if the connection with Phobos-Ground is established after November 21, the station will not be able to fly to Mars, the source told the news agency.

"The solar batteries of the spacecraft have unfolded. Phobos-Ground is oriented at the Sun, and the ballistic window of the craft to fly to Mars is restricted with the date of November 21st," the source said.

Vladimir Popovkin, the head of Russia's Federal Space Agency Roskosmos, previously said that Phobos-Ground had not been lost. According to the official, the station will remain on orbit before the beginning of January. It would be possible to rehabilitate the spacecraft before the beginning of January, Popovkin said.

Phobos-Ground interplanetary space station was launched from Baikonur spaceport on November 9. The station was designed to collect the samples of the ground of Mars's natural satellite Phobos. The two stages of the Zenit-2 booster rocket separated normally. The main engine of the station failed to start and set the spacecraft to the trajectory of the flight to Mars.

The malfunction could occur either because of the failure of software or the sensors on board the station, officials said.

All the attempts to establish connection with the space station have not led to any positive result. The head of Roskosmos stated earlier that it was extremely difficult to establish control over the spacecraft.

Roskosmos specialists particularly tried to accelerate the turning mechanisms of the station. In addition, the craft was supposed to start working when it would pass Earth at a distance of several tens of thousands of kilometers.

Vladimir Popovkin stated last week that Phobos-Ground would go out of order completely in the beginning of January if it is impossible to reanimate it before this time. The official also said that there were slim chances for the fragments of the station to reach Earth during fall. There are 7.5 tons of fuel on board the station, Popovkin said. The fuel is kept in aluminium tanks, and they will explode when entering the Earth's atmosphere.

If Phobos Ground falls apart, the fragments of the station may fall down in the beginning of December on the territories of many countries of the world: the USA, China, Africa, the Middle East, several European countries, Australia, Japan, Ukraine and Russia.

The second stage of the Zenit-2SБ booster rocket will enter the atmosphere of the planet on November 22 and fall in the Pacific Ocean, in the area to the south-east off Japan.

A special committee will be established as soon as the station is announced lost. The committee will make conclusions on certain enterprises and possibly people. A source told RIA Novosti news agency that the situation with Phobos-Ground occurred because of the lamentable state of affairs in the field of the Russian space programming.

Roskosmos officials say, though, that the failure with the Phobos-Ground interplanetary station will not cancel the work on other space research programs. The Russian program of planetary research stipulates Luna-Glob and Luna-Resource lunar programs in 2015, Venera-D Venus research after 2016, as well as Mars-Net and Mars-Ground projects. Russia also plans to partake in Europe's Laplace project to explore Jupiter's Europa satellite.

Russia to put lighthouse on the moon

Russian engineers plan to attach a LED lamp to the moon probe, which will allow it to be visually tracked on its flight to the moon and on its descent to its surface.

Russia is planning to put a “lighthouse” on the moon as part of its joint Russia-India Moon Resource space mission.

“Subsequently, you will be able to use the LED beacon as a point of reference for a coordination network, for optical observations and measurements,” Interfax quoted a source in the aerospace industry as saying on Tuesday.

The source said that the beacon would be able to work for a very long period given its low energy requirements and the probe’s autonomous energy supply and solar batteries.

Soyuz launched from French Guiana site at second attempt

Russian Soyuz-ST carrier rocket was successfully launched from Kourou in French Guiana,

The rocket is carrying two Galileo navigation system satellites and is fitted with a radar transponder allowing its location to be monitored and controlled in flight.

The Soyuz-ST is a modification of the three-stage Soyuz-2 rocket with a Fregat booster adapted for launch in the conditions prevalent in Kourou where there is high heat and humidity.

“The satellites and the Fregat booster have separated from the carrier rocket at the designated time,” a spokesman for the European Space Agency said.

The satellites on board will be deployed as part of the European Galileo navigation system. At present, two test satellites launched in 2005 and 2008 are working in orbit, and 30 are planned in total.

Gagarin statue unveiled in London

A statue has been unveiled in London to celebrate the first spaceman - Yuri Gagarin.

The figure, which has been placed just off The Mall, next to Admiralty Arch, features the cosmonaut in his flight suit and standing on a globe.

A host of dignitaries were present for the unveiling, including the cosmonaut's daughter, Elena Gagarina."The 12th of April 1961 was one of the most remarkable days in history, uniting all people in all countries on all continents," said Gagarina, who is the current director of the Kremlin Museums."I express my great gratitude to all Londoners and all the people of the UK," she added just before the unveiling.

Gagarin shook the world when it was announced on 12 April 1961 that he had circled the Earth in a spacecraft.

Others in attendance included Vladimir Popovkin, the new head of the Russian space agency; and Sergei Krikalev, the most experienced spaceman in history having logged more than 800 days in orbit.

After circling the planet, Gagarin became an international superstar and undertook a world tour.

He was invited to Britain by the National Union of Foundrymen and it was at Admiralty Arch that he met the then Prime Minister Harold MacMillan.

he 3.5m-high (12ft) zinc-alloy figure is a gift from Roscosmos to the British Council, the organisation that represents the UK culturally abroad. The Council has its HQ just metres from the Arch, making the statue's setting doubly significant.

The figure is a copy of one sited in the town of Lubertsy, just outside Moscow, where Gagarin trained as a foundry worker in his mid-teens

The original was made in 1984 to celebrate what would have been the cosmonaut's 50th birthday - he died in a plane crash aged just 34 years.

Westminster City Council has granted a 12-month licence for the statue and its Portland stone plinth.

The Queen, who met Gagarin on his world tour in '61, was represented at the statue unveiling by their HRHs Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

It stands facing Captain Cook on the opposite side of The Mall, and close to the statue of Navigation seated in the wall of Admiralty Arch. The pedestal of Captain Cook is inscribed with the words "circumnavigator of the globe".

Roscosmos Popovkin said: "Russians are very proud that [Gagarin] was Russian, but if you look at it more philosophically - he was a delegate from the whole world to space.

"He reminds us how we must be together in the exploration of space."

The statue is part of a series of cultural events to mark the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's historic flight.

These include an exhibition at the Council's headquarters on the life of the cosmonaut and the early Soviet space programme.

Russian Rocket from Baikonur

A rocket carrying US and Russian crew has lifted off successfully from Kazakhstan, for a mission to re-staff the International Space Station.

The Russian spaceship Soyuz blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome at 01:35am local time on Wednesday, for the 100th mission under the International Space Station (ISS) programme.

Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronauts Douglas Willock and Shannon Walker will spend approximately six months at the international orbiting laboratory.