Russian space officials said it has deciphered the telemetry data received from the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft but they have yet to find out how functional the data will be.

However, space officials said they will continue attempts to contact the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft until it enters the "thicker layers of the atmosphere."

Russian specialists have deciphered the telemetry data received from the spacecraft but have yet to find out the cause of its erratic behavior. An earlier telemetry data from the probe was impossible to decipher, the space officials said.

Signals received from the Russian spacecraft demonstrates that the unit is "alive," according to experts. However, they added that it is impossible to say anything about the status of the onboard control system.

Even if the Phobos-Grunt is revived, it can no longer be sent to Mars moon because the last "window of opportunity" for sending the probe to Mars closed on Monday. But the telemetric data from the spacecraft can help in identifying the causes of the probe's failure in order to make adjustments for future interplanetary missions.

Launched on Nov. 9, the Russian probe was designed to bring back rock and soil samples from the Martian moon Phobos. A Zenit carrier rocket put the spacecraft into an initial elliptical based orbit, but the probe failed to fire its engines to put it on course for the Red Planet. It is currently moving along a so-called support orbit Phobos-Grunt is expected to fall to Earth sometime in March.

The deputy head of the Phobos-Grunt project, Alexander Zakharov of the Space Research Institute, said the telemetry would show whether the spacecraft could be "reanimated" and used in another research mission, such as a near-earth asteroid.

"If we assume that the spacecraft may be reanimated... then we may choose some near-earth asteroid and send the spacecraft there," he said.

"However, such mission requires extensive preparations. We would have to calculate the orbit and study energy issues, it would take months."