Engine failure is being blamed for a temporary setback to China's first probe mission to Mars. The Chinese-built Yinghuo-1 was designed to ride piggyback on the Russian spacecraft Phobos-Grunt. But a mid-orbit malfunction in the host craft's engine means it will not have the necessary thrust to reach Mars.

Engine failure is being blamed for a temporary setback to China's first probe mission to Mars.

Russia's Federal Space Agency chief Vladimir Popovkin says neither of Phobos-Grunt's two ignitions worked, probably due to the failure of the craft's orientation system.

According to the mission plan, the two craft were to head to the Red Planet to observe its space environment. They are now still orbiting Earth. Russia's Space Agency says technicians have three days to fix the problem before the batteries die.

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