Posted: Wed, Feb 1, 2012, 7:15 AM ET (1215 GMT)
A Russian commission concluded that cosmic radiation may have damaged electronics on the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, including possibly counterfeit microchips, causing the mission to fail. The commission said that two components of the spacecraft's onboard computer "spontaneously rebooted" after the spacecraft entered a temporary parking orbit, and went into a standby mode. That prevented the spacecraft from firing thrusters to leave Earth orbit and head to Mars; the spacecraft was stranded in a decaying orbit and reentered in January. Russian officials said that counterfeit imported microelectronics, not hardened to withstand the space radiation environment, may have contributed to the failure. Although Russian officials previously claimed that interference from a US radar may have led to the spacecraft's failure, the commission ruled out any "external or foreign influence" on the spacecraft. Some Russian experts are skeptical about the commission's conclusions, arguing that it ignores internal problems with the Russian space program.

Related Links:

•  AFP article
•  Reuters article
•  RIA Novosti article