KOROLYOV, near Moscow. Nov 22 (Interfax-AVN) - The federal space agency Roscosmos said it would be able to provide the exact coordinates of the location where the wreckage of interplanetary station Phobos-Grunt could fall no earlier than 24 hours before this happens, Roscosmos deputy head Vitaly Davydov said at a news conference at Mission Control.
"The atmosphere is breathing, the Sun behaves in various ways, and the station could become orientated differently, especially now that it has gone out of control. So trying to predict where it will fall earlier than 24 hours in advance would have no sense. More accurate figures will be provided 12 hours before the wreckage falls," he said.
Ballistics experts from around the world gather each year to assess when old space objects will leave their orbits. Their work results in forecasts of where satellite wreckage could fall exactly 24 hours before this happens, which is the optimal time for issuing a forecast, Davydov said.