The bad news is that the Russian mission to Mars' moon Phobos is no more. Phobos-Grunt failed to leave Earth orbit due to a rocket failure and now it is little more than space junk awaiting re-entry sometime next month. This is a serious setback to the Russian space program that already had a number of problematic launches. It also marks a setback for China, which had a Mars probe on board, as well as The Planetary Society, which had a soil experiment on the craft. Some are talking about a possible recovery of certain parts of the spacecraft. It would be nice if something can be salvaged.
