Mars probe to crash into ocean

İZMİR - Anatolia News Agency

Russia’s space agency on Dec. 11 pinpointed the likely trajectory of its stranded Mars probe, Phobos-Grunt, predicting it would crash into the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta later this week.

“The predicted window for the fragments of the Phobos-Grunt to fall to Earth is between Jan. 14 and 16, with the central point on Jan. 15 at 1:18 pm Moscow time, the Roskosmos agency said in a statement.
It also published a map showing the path of the gradually descending probe, with its location at the predicted time west of Jakarta, apparently falling into the Indian Ocean.

But it said the predicted time and place could change as the probe gradually descends.

The $165-million probe designed to travel to the Mars moon of Phobos and bring back soil samples, blasted off on Nov. 9 but failed to leave the Earth’s orbit.The Russian space agency said last month that 20 to 30 fragments weighing a total of no more than 200 kilograms were expected to fall to Earth.