Russia's space agency says it has again failed to restore communications with an orbiting radio telescope but remains hopeful it will regain control of the satellite soon.
“It was not possible to restore communication with the radio telescope as a result of the work carried out today,” the Roskosmos space agency said on January 13 in a message on Twitter.
“Now experts are analyzing the results and are preparing a plan for further actions to restore communication. Work on the restoration of communication with the spacecraft will be continued tomorrow,” it added.
Roskosmos lost the link to the Spektr-R satellite on January 11 and has been trying to reestablish communication since, though the telescope is still transmitting scientific data.
Spektr-R was launched in 2011 with a life expectancy of about three years.
It works in concert with a series of telescopes on Earth to study radio signals originating both inside and outside our galaxy.
It also observes solar wind and the planet’s outer magnetosphere.
