In the origin of the satellites of Mars are still controversial. [28] Phobos and Deimos, both have much in common with carbon C-type asteroids with spectra, albedos and densities very similar to C or D-type asteroids. [12] Based on this similarity, one hypothesis is that the two Moons, may have been captured in Mars orbit from the main belt asteroids. [29] [30] Both Moons is circular orbit that lies almost exactly in Mars' equatorial plane, and hence the seizure origin requires a mechanism for circularizing initially highly eccentric orbits, and the adjustment of its inclination to the equatorial plane, most likely through a combination of atmospheric braking and tidal forces, [31], although it is not clear that there is enough time for this to occur for Deimos. [28] Capture also requires energy dissipation. The current atmosphere of Mars is too thin to capture the size of the object Phobos atmospheric braking. [28] Geoffrey Landis noted that the seizure could occur if the original body is a binary asteroid, which are separated due to tidal forces. [30] The main alternative hypothesis is that the Moons accreted in this situation. Another hypothesis is that Mars was once surrounded by many of Phobos and Deimos size of possibly ejected into orbit around a collision with a large planetesimal
In the satire of Gulliver Travels by Jonathan Swift, the people of Laputa argue that discovered two satellites of Mars, providing a fairly accurate discriptions. That is why the names of Gulliver Travel is used especially for the satellites of Mars. Swift classic was written about 150 years to Phobos and Deimos were discovered Asaph Hall.
In Arthur C. Clarke 'S novel "The Sands of Mars, Mars is terraformed when Phobos was ignited as a second sun through the pion-resonance response, and the novel" The Fountains of Paradise "," Phobos is an obstacle to building a space elevator on Mars because of its close orbit. In the short story "Hide and Seek", "Phobos is a scene of seemingly unequal meeting between the agent is forced to land on the tiny moon and warship him.
James Blish in the novel "The Mission in the heart of a star begins with a few astronauts exploring the interior of Phobos, which is on an artificial satellite to orbit Mars observations to explore the solar system hegemony Malis - alien collective political inhabiting the stars near the center of the Milky Way (in the heart stars' in the title).
Mars Trilogy Kim Stanley Robinson is a chronicle of the settlement and terraforming of the planet Mars. In this series, the weapons system is built on Phobos is activated, resulting in full moon (which at that time was a transnational military base), the slowdown in orbit and destructively aerobrake to Mars' atmosphere, absolutely destroy it.
In Alfred Bester in the stars my destination, Phobos is the second Inner Planet colonies are attacked by space satellite (the first of which is the Earth) when the military began to rise.
Episode 1 of Doom video game series took place on Phobos.
Russian Space Agency plans to start sample return mission to Phobos in 2009 under the name "Phobos-grunt. The return capsule will include a life science experiment Planetary Society under the title Life interplanetary flight experiment, or of life. [39] The second contribution to this mission with China's satellite shooting called "Yinghuo-1", which will be released in the orbit of Mars, as well as grinding and sieving the soil of the scientific demands on Phobos lands. [40] [41] [42]
Astrium in the UK, also plans to sample return mission. [43]
In Phobos Monolith "(right of center), as adopted by the Mars Global Surveyor (MOC Image 55103) in 1998.
In 2007, the Canadian Space Agency is funding research Optech, and the Mars Institute for unmanned missions to Phobos known as Prime (Phobos Reconnaissance and International Exploration of Mars). The proposed location for the landing ship PRIME is "Phobos Monolith", "bright object near Stickney, which casts a shadow visible. [44] [45] The base of astronaut Aldrin described the "monolith" on July 22, 2009 interview with C-Span: "We must go boldly where people have not gone before. Fly to comets, asteroids trip to visit the moon of Mars. There, in the cast there. It is very unusual structure of the potato in the form of the object, which is around Mars in seven hours time. When people learn that they are going to say: "Who is there? Who is there? "Universe to put it there. If you decide to God it is ..." [46]
Phobos has also been proposed as an early target for the manned mission to Mars, [47], since landing on Phobos will be much less complicated (and therefore much less expensive) than landing on the surface of Mars itself. A lander on Mars is connected must be able in the atmosphere and the subsequent entry into the ground to return to orbit without any ancillary facilities (capacity of which has never been an attempt on the manned spacecraft of human design), or require the establishment of support facilities in place (in the colony or bust "missions), and the lander is designed to Phobos may be based on equipment designed for lunar and asteroid landings.
In the late 1950's and 1960's, the unusual orbital characteristics of Phobos has led to speculation that it might be hollow.
Around 1958, Russian astrophysicist Iosif Shklovsky Samuilovich, the study of the secular acceleration of Phobos' orbital motion, proposed a "thin sheet metal" of Phobos, the proposals that have led to speculation that Phobos was an artificial origin. [33] Shklovsky based his analysis on estimated the density of the upper atmosphere of Mars, and concludes that for weak braking effect to be able to account for the secular acceleration, Phobos should be a very easy calculation yielded a hollow iron sphere 16 km across but less than 6 cm. [33] [34] In February 1960 letter to the journal Astronautics, [35] S. Fred Singer, a science adviser to U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, came out in support of the theory of Shklovskii, stating:
[Phobos'] purpose may be to sweep up radiation in Mars' atmosphere, so the Martians could safely operate around the world.
My conclusion there is, and here I am back Shklov that if the satellite is indeed spiraling inward as derived from astronomical observations, that there is little alternative to the hypothesis that it is hollow, and therefore made a martian. Big 'if' lies in the astronomical observations, they may well be a mistake. Because they are based on several independent sets of measurements of decades, except for different observers with different instruments, systematic errors may affect them. [35]
Subsequently, however, the existence of acceleration, which led to the claims was called into question [36] and accurate measurements of the orbit can be 1969 found that the difference does not exist. [37] The singer's criticism was justified, when the early studies were later found to have used to overestimate the importance of 5 cm / year to calculate the altitude loss, which was later revised to 1.8 cm / year. [38] The secular acceleration is attributed to tidal effects, which were not considered in previous studies. The density of Phobos has directly measured the ship will be 1,887 g / cm ł [4], which is contrary to the hollow shell. In addition, images obtained with the probe Viking in 1970 clearly showed a natural object, not an artificial one, and "hollow" Phobos "Speculation had been relegated to the status of historical curiosity.
Because of the low Phobos rotation rate relative to its orbital rate, tidal locking reduces its orbital radius of about 20 meters per century. At 11 million years, it will either impact the surface of Mars or, more likely to divide into a planetary ring. [26] In view of Phobos in the wrong form, and provided that it is a bunch of garbage (especially in the Mohr-Coulomb body), it was estimated that Phobos is currently stable in relation to the tidal forces. However, it is assumed that Phobos will be Roche limit for the garbage pile when it drops on the orbital radius of just over 2000 km to 7100 km. At the distance of Phobos likely will begin to disperse and form short-lived ring system around Mars. The rings themselves will continue to spiral slowly to Mars.