spacetoday.net: Russian research satellite unresponsive to commands

Russian research satellite unresponsive to commands

Posted: Fri, Jul 25, 2014, 9:30 AM ET (1330 GMT)
A Russian research satellite launched late last week is not responding to commands sent from the ground, but continues to return data, Russian officials report. The Foton-M 4 satellite, launched Saturday, failed to respond to commands several orbits into its mission. Efforts to get the spacecraft to respond since then have failed. The spacecraft is continuing to operate in an automated mode and is returning data, but it's unclear if the spacecraft can complete its mission and return to Earth without being able to respond to commands from the ground. The spacecraft is carrying a set of biological and materials science experiments, including some plants and animals.