ESA establishes contact with Phobos-Grunt

MOSCOW, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency said a tracking station in Perth, Australia, has managed to establish contact with Russia's wayward Phobos-Grunt spacecraft.

Communication with the unmanned Mars-bound probe was lost shortly after it was launched on Nov. 8 from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan.

"ESA teams are working closely with engineers in Russia to determine how best to maintain communication with the spacecraft," the agency said Wednesday in a post on its Web site.

ESA had said Tuesday's effort, described as a final attempt to establish communications, would involve tracking stations in South America, Australia and the Canary Islands.