Phobos Mysteries

Phobos is the larger and innermost of Mars' two moons. Phobos is closer to its primary than any other moon in the solar system, less than 6000 km above the surface of Mars. It is also one of the smallest moons in the solar system. In Greek mythology, Phobos is one of the sons of Ares (Mars) and Aphrodite (Venus). "phobos" is Greek for "fear" (the root of "phobia").    Discovered 1877 August 12 by Hall; photographed by Mariner 9 in 1971, Viking 1 in 1977, and Phobos in 1988.(Orbit: 9378 km from the center of Mars, Diameter: 22.2 km (27 x 21.6 x 18.8), Mass: 1.08e16 kg)

 


(Picture left) Temperature data and close-up images of the Martian moon Phobos gathered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (1998) indicate the surface of this small body has been pounded into powder by eons of meteoroid impacts, some of which started landslides that left dark trails marking the steep slopes of giant craters.

(Picture left, Click for full size) Phobos as viewed on August 19, 1998, 10 AM PDT. The MGS spacecraft was approximately 1080 km (671 mi) from Phobos at closest approach. This image, about 8.2 km (5.1 mi) wide by 12 km (7.5 mi) tall, shows the full field-of-view of the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) as spacecraft motion swept across the satellite. The image as shown here has a scale of 12 m (40 feet) per picture element ("pixel").
 

The Russian mission Phobos 2 Space Probe at 1989 was lost as Phobos 1 Space Probe.
The Phobos 2 mission was launched on 12 July 1988 from Baykonur Cosmodrome. The primary objective of the mission, as with its sister probe Phobos 1, was to explore the larger of Mars' two moons, Phobos. In addition to instrumentation to explore the Martian satellites, Phobos 2 also carried instruments to study the Sun, Mars, the interplanetary medium, and gamma-ray burst sources. The Phobos 2 spacecraft arrived at Mars on 30 January 1989, but was lost while maneuvering in Martian orbit to encounter Phobos on 27 March 1989. The loss was traced to either a failure of the on-board computer or of the radio transmitter (which was already operating on the backup power system).

The last picture from the Phobos 2 Space Probe shows Phobos moon with a cigar shaped object (UFO)
(Click on the picture for full size)
 
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