Russia’s Spektr-R space radio telescope failed to respond to commands from the Earth on Sunday and the attempts to restore control of it will continue on Monday afternoon, Adviser on Science to Roscosmos State Space Corporation’s Director General Alexander Bloshenko told TASS.

Axar.az reports citing TASS.

"Today’s program of an effort to try to contact with the spacecraft has ended. Now a meeting of the operational and technical leadership is underway on the outcome," Bloshenko said.

The effort to establish contact with Spektr-R will continue after 7 p.m. on Monday when it will be seen by both earth stations, Medvezhji Ozera and Ussuriysk. "We are planning to repeat today’s program of work," he said.

Spektr-R was launched in 2011 and the warranty period of its active operation expired back in 2014. Before this year, the radio telescope continued tackling targeted tasks, Roscosmos said.

According to Alexander Bloshenko, a scientific advisor to the head of Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos, the telescope’s active operations lasted 2.5 times longer than expected.