Russia's Phobos-Grunt spacecraft is currently in a 299-kilometer orbit and is slowly descending towards the Earth's atmosphere.

According to Spaceflight101, Russian space officials are now trying to send commands to the Phobos-Grunt to ignite the engine after efforts to contact the vehicle over the weekend via Russian ground stations failed.

Satellite observers said the Phobos-Grunt is exhibiting signs of a dead spacecraft as it is no longer stable and appears to be tumbling. The fact that the spacecraft is no longer maintaining its attitude and is not charging its batteries are also signs that the Phobos-Grunt could be dead.

Earlier reports that the Phobos-Grunt lost two items have also been reportedly confirmed. "Object G" separated from the spacecraft between Nov. 27 and 29, while "Object H" followed on Saturday. According to reports, the two objects, which have an estimated size ranging from 0.3 to 0.5 kilograms, drifted away and entered their own orbits.

Object G re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on Nov. 29 while Object H which also also showed signs of orbital decay, plunged back to Earth on Friday. How these two objects separated from the vehicle has not yet been determined.

Russian space officials have not made any statement yet on the fate of the Mission, however, re-entry have been estimated to range from Jan. 6 to 18.