Admitting the failure of Phobos-Grunt mission, a Russian scientist apologized for the failed mission but said that new a mission to the Mars moon is still possible.

In an open letter to fellow scientists and mission team members, Lev Zelenyi, director of the Space Research Institute and Chair of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Solar System Exploration Board, expressed regret for the failed mission, noting that the reason for the failure has yet to be determined.

"We are deeply sorry about the failure," wrote Zelenyi, adding that "we hope in the future to continue our collaboration on space science projects."

Zelenyi mentioned Russia's space science agenda, including a plan for robotic moon missions called Luna-Glob and Lunar-Resource, and a possible collaboration between Russia, ESA and NASA on the ExoMars and Russian Mars-NET missions to the Red Planet.

"Moreover, the Russian Academy of Sciences would like to prepare a new mission to Phobos," Zelenyi said, but no decision has yet been made on this undertaking.

In the same message, Zelenyi saluted the assistance of the European Space Agency, NASA and the U. S. military space trackers in trying to establish communication with the doomed spacecraft.

"However, despite people being at work 24/7 since the launch, all these attempts have not yield[ed] any satisfactory results," Zelenyi said.

Specialists at Russia's NPO Lavochkin, the main contractor of the Phobos-Grunt project, however, will continue their attempts to establish connection with the spacecraft and send commands until the very end of its existence, he added.

Experts have estimated that the spacecraft will re-enter Earth's atmosphere in early January as a piece of space debris. According to Zelenyi, Russian space experts are now working on the issue of re-entry and the "probability of where and which fragments may hit the ground (if any)."

As to the possible dangers of radioactive materials, Zelenyi said that while one of the scientific instruments onboard Phobos-Grunt contain the radioactive material Cobalt-57, the amount of this material is less than 10 micrograms should pose no significant problems.