Video: Phobos Grunt Reentry Animation

As 2011 was drawing to a close, Russian experts made their final forecast for the reentry of the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft. According to calculations, the probe would lose its orbital velocity and plunge into the Earth atmosphere within 24 hours after its orbit had decayed to an average altitude of 150 kilometers. Estimates based on the spacecraft’s 826th orbit showed it would reenter on January 15, 2012, around 23:07:08 Moscow Decree Time, while flying over Northern Pacific between Russia and North America.