back to article At least 10 days till hot Phobos-Grunt chunks rain down

Any fragments of the doomed Russian Mars probe Phobos-Grunt that don't burn up in the fiery explosion of its fuel tanks hitting the atmosphere are likely to fall to Earth on 15 January. Russian Air and Space Defence Troops' spokesman Alexei Zolotukhin gave Russian news agency Itar-Tass the date but added that it might still …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Does it have a nuke reactor on board?

    I don't want a nuke reactor to land in my garden.

    It might do strange things to the cat. Or worse.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Worse?

      You mean the cat might do strange things with it?

      All hail our new cat overlord!

      1. Valerion
        Thumb Up

        Cravendale

        This is where the cats with thumbs are going to start.

        Thumbs up, for obvious reasons.

  2. K. Adams
    Alert

    Can I get my own insurance...

    ... in case Grunt decides to land on my house/car/pet/family member/significant other? I'm not sure I can trust government bureaucrats to handle my claim in a timely manner:

    -- -- El' Wiki: Space Liability Convention (section "Claims between states only")

    -- -- -- -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Liability_Convention#Claims_between_states_only

    1. Vic

      Yes, you can.

      You can get insurance for anything you like. Anything - even things that have already happened[1].

      But you might not like the premium...

      Vic.

      [1] Legal cases often involve "after the fact" insurance, to insure against the legal costs that you already know you're going to be facing...

    2. Andus McCoatover
      Windows

      Indeed you can! Insured against anything...

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArDv8duEgH4

  3. Local Group
    Joke

    Hot Chunks

    Isn't this a regurgitation of the last Phobos -Grunt story?

  4. Mike Flugennock
    Pint

    Popcorn'n'beer time?

    "Zolotukhin said that information about orbit changes was being 'provided for all the parties concerned'."

    What'd he say? Parties? Hot damn, sounds like a helluvan idea. A week and a half'll be just enough time to send the invites out, scrounge up the lawn chairs and get a few pony kegs.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    Insurance

    It's ok it's not an act of dog, he said with his dyslexai...

  6. simon 43
    Mushroom

    7.5 metric tons of fuel... is it likely to be visible to the naked eye when (if) it goes off???

  7. Nights_are_Long

    God I hope it it!

    I would love to be standing outside watching it with my mate, time it to the last second point my finger to the sky an say BANG! as the fireball ensues and as it's burning away in the sky turn to him and say "Yea I am just that good" then walk off.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  8. Winkypop Silver badge
    Mushroom

    "20 to 30 pieces with a total weight of less than 200kg"

    Ummm, that means that some of these "chunks" may still be, well, quite chunky!

    Run away!

    Run away!

  9. regnik
    Alert

    Incliation

    Does the orbit inclination of 51.41 imply that any of us north of Reading (UK) have nothing to worry about?

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