first contact with phobos grunt since nov 8th

A Perth, Australia tracking station made contact with errant Phobos Grunt spacecraft, yesterday. A Universe Today article reports actions of tracking station. "ESA [European Space Agency] said in a press release that the signals sent to Phoboos-Grunt commanded the spacecraft’s transmitter to switch on, sending a signal down to the station’s 15 m dish antenna. Data received from Phobos-Grunt were then transmitted from Perth to Russian mission controllers via ESA’s Space Operations Center, Darmstadt, Germany, for analysis." A full account of Russia's enlisting ESA assistance in regaining contact can be read here. ESA made near daily attempts to communicate with Phobos Grunt, since contact lost shortly after liftoff. It's interesting stuff!