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[b]Last chance to send Russian Mars moon probe expires Monday[/b] The launch window to send Russia's Phobos-Grunt spacecraft to a Mars moon will close Monday, an airspace source told RIA Novosti. "The spacecraft has already unfolded its solar panels and is in the so-called "barbeque mode," the source said, speaking about the passive thermal control mode during which the spacecraft rotates slowly around its roll axis to prevent one side from continuous solar exposure and overheating. "So, the ballistic window for Phobos-Grunt's flight to Mars is limited by November 21," he said. The Russian space agency expects the possible reentry to take place no earlier than January and hopes to establish contact by then. Igor Lisov, editor of the industry magazine Cosmonautics News, said if contact with the spacecraft is established after the launch window's closure, it could still be sent to [Earth's] Moon or even to an asteroid. However, he said there were almost zero chance the probe would be revived.
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