home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
TIME: Almanac 1990
/
1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
/
time
/
041089
/
04108900.037
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1990-09-22
|
1KB
|
19 lines
NATION, Page 45American NotesSPACEDo You Read Me, Phobos?
Suddenly, the beeps stopped coming. Soviet scientists last week
lost track of one of their nation's most highly touted space
projects: Phobos 2, an unmanned craft launched last July to
dispatch two landing probes onto the Martian moon Phobos. Repeated
attempts to re-establish contact were fruitless. A companion vessel
had been lost in space last August. The two spacecraft were part
of the longtime Soviet push to explore Mars, an effort that Moscow
has several times invited the U.S. to join. Although Phobos 2 had
managed to send back information on the Martian atmosphere,
magnetic field and environment, some U.S. analysts believe the
mishaps in the $500 million project raise questions about quality
assurance and control in Soviet flight preparations. But Frank
McDonald, associate director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,
warns against using the episode to judge Moscow's competence in
space. Says McDonald: "They have demonstrated again and again a
very sophisticated capability."