The device may have ended up in a cloud of plasma that was released during the solar event, the source said. That is the main version being considered by the commission investigating the reasons for the probe's technical failure, the source said.
An X-class solar flare, the most powerful of the solar flare categories defined by U.S. space agency NASA, occurred on Nov. 4, causing a massive release of plasma. This triggered a series of magnetic storms that had effects for several weeks, the source told Interfax.
The Fobos-Grunt device, which was supposed to travel to the Mars moon of Phobos to collect a soil sample, was launched on Nov. 9 but became stuck in low-Earth orbit. Remnants of the probe crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Jan. 16.
The commission investigating the failure of the Fobos-Grunt probe has completed its work and will present its findings Sunday, deputy head of Russia's space agency Anatoly Shilov said Thursday, Interfax reported.