the propulsion unit was expected to be jettisoned, with ignition for a second burn to depart Earth orbit scheduled for one orbit, or 2.1 hours, after the end of the first burn. The propulsion module constitutes the cruise-stage bus of Fobos-Grunt. According to original plans, Mars orbit arrival had been expected during September 2012 and the return vehicle was scheduled to reach Earth in August 2014. Following what would have been the planned end of the first burn, the spacecraft could not be located in the target orbit. The spacecraft was subsequently discovered to still be in its initial parking orbit and it was determined that the burn had not taken place. Initially, engineers had about three days from launch to rescue the spacecraft before its batteries ran out. It was then established that the craft's solar panels had deployed, giving engineers more time to restore control. It was soon discovered the spacecraft was adjusting its orbit, changing its expected re-entry from late November or December 2011 to as late as early 2012. Even though it had not been contacted, the spacecraft seemed to be actively adjusting its perigee (the point it is closest to Earth in its orbit). Contact On 22 November 2011, a signal from the probe was picked up by the European Space Agency's tracking station in Perth, Australia, after it had sent the probe the command to turn on one of its transmitters. The European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, reported that the contact was made at 20:25 UTC on 22 November 2011 after some modifications had been made to the 15 m dish facility in Perth to improve its chances of getting a signal. No telemetry was received in this communication. It remained unclear whether the communications link would have been sufficient to command the spacecraft to switch on its engines to take it on its intended trajectory toward Mars. Roscosmos officials said that the window of opportunity to salvage Fobos-Grunt would close in early December 2011. The next day, on 23 November 2011, the Perth station again made contact with the spacecraft and during 6 minutes, about 400 telemetry "frames" and Doppler information were received. The amount of information received during this communication was not sufficient, and therefore it was not possible to identify the problem with the probe. Further communication attempts made by ESA were unsuccessful and contact was not reestablished.