A Mars Odyssey

Another interesting feature about Phobos is the duration of its orbit. Phobos revolves around Mars at an astounding rate. In fact, it revolves around Mars 3 times during one Martian day! As a result, Phobos appears to rise in the west, and set in the east! (Exploring Mars)

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The NASA Mars Reconaissance has just made history with its breathtaking photographs of Phobos, the major moon of Mars. Dominating the entire picture is a 5.5 mile crater referred to as Stickney Crater, one of the widest depressions on the moon to date. The largest of Phobos’ craters, Stickney, was named after the wife of Asaph Hall, the astronomer who discovered the moons of Mars. In addition is a series of grooves and crater chains, the crater’s formation is a subject of serious debate among scientists. Entering the Martian orbit in March of 2006, the MRO mapped the surface of the red planet with its high-resolution cameras in order to choose landing sites for future Martian missions, along with its weather, climate, geology, and atmosphere.

The MRO High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera took one of the Phobo photographs at a distance of 4,225 miles and the other at 3,603 miles, taken within ten minutes of each other. Both photographs show the same features but combined have the ability to yield a stereo view which has formed a wide assortment of scientific theories. One theory is that the grooves and chains of craters on Phobos are related to the formation of the Stickney impact crater. Other theories are based on their formation from ejecta from impacts on Mars that later collided with Phobos. But everyone is curious about the blue surface rocks near the Stickney rim, which could mean the surface is fresher and younger than other parts of the moon, based on our own Moon rocks’ analogy.

But overall, recent studies are demonstrating that the grooves and crater chains are not related to the Stickney Crater, with the study results showing it came from the planet below when the asteroids hit Mars. Upon impact, debris flew up and hit Phobos. The scientists feel the only reason the grooves appear to emerge from Stickney Crater because the crater faces the red planet. They also feel that the bright features lining the inner slopes of the crater are thought to be landslides. In 1980, a fist-sized Kaidun meteorite fell to Earth in a Russian military base in Yemen. Researchers feel this is a piece of Phobos. We shall see. Combined with the latest photographs emerging and the studies from Russia, new scientific finds will evolve instead of theories.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 2:15 am and is filed under Mission Objectives, Space Agency News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.