Radiation from American satellites was the cause of Russia’s failure to get Fobos-Grunt to Mars, former head of army of missile attack prevention Lt-General Nikolai Rodionov told Interfax.

“The trajectory of Fobos-Grunt was in the coverage area of powerful American radars set up in Alaska. I am afraid that the strong electromagnetic radiation from these stations could have affected the controls system of our interplanetary probe,” he said, adding that Russia should be worried about the powerful radars in Norway and in Alaska that are part of missile defence system.

Russian experts announced on Thursday that they cannot decode the telemetry signals from Fobos-Grunt probe, as the frequency used by Perth receiving station that established contact does not match the Russian frequencies.