Le hoped to save the stranded Russian ship

The European Space Agency (ESA) today announced its experts have caught the signal from Russian spacecraft stuck in orbit of the earth.

Phobos Grunt spacecraft before entering the launch pad
at Baikonur space airport in Kazakhstan. (Photo: AFP)

"An ESA monitoring station in Perth, Australia contacted the Phobos Grunt. It was the first signal that humans on Earth received from the ship since it was launched on November 8. Our expert team is working with Russian engineers to find out how to maintain contact with Phobos Grunt " , ESA announced on its website.

The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskomos) confirmed ESA contacted the Phobos Grunt spacecraft.

Previously, Vitaly Davydov, Roskomos deputy director, admitted the opportunity to save Phobos Grunt was very small. This is the first time a senior official of Roskomos confirmed the possibility of losing the Mars probe.

Rene Pischel, an ESA spokesperson, told RIA Novosti that capturing the signal from Phobos Grunt is only the beginning of the rescue process.

Yesterday ESA announced that they would use space stations in South America and Spain to control the Phobos Grunt.

Phobos Grunt spacecraft was launched on November 8 to sample soil and rock on Mars's Phobos satellite. But after the ship separated from the rocket, its two engines did not start to fly towards Mars. So the ship is flying low on the Earth's orbit and experts acknowledge that its altitude will gradually decrease after the power in the batteries is exhausted.