Watch out! 13-tonne Mars probe is due to fall to Earth

AP

The heaviest interplanetary spacecraft ever launched is expected to fall to Earth early in the new year - and it's not yet possible to calculate the expected crash site.

The Russian Phobos-Ground probe was supposed to land on a moon of Mars but engine failure soon after launch in November meant that it never made it out of the Earth's orbit.

Russia's space agency, Rosocosmos, said that the probe, which is the size of a lorry and weighs 13.2 tonnes, contains 11 tonnes of toxic rocket fuel and 10kg of radioactive cobalt-57.

It will fall to Earth between 6 and 19 January, but the agency insists that most of the dangerous material will be burnt off during re-entry and will pose little danger.

Rosocosmos said that between 20 and 30 fragments of the probe are expected to fall to Earth somewhere between 5.4 degrees north of the equator and 51.4 degrees south, which covers some of the most densely populated areas on Earth.

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