A close-up of the Martian moon Phobos.
(Image credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin)
Posted on 10/31/2022 3:53:38 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Europe's Mars Express spacecraft has peered deeper into the subsurface of the Martian moon Phobos than ever before, finding hints of unknown structures that could be clues as to the moon's origin.
Mars Express, which is a 19-year-veteran spacecraft in orbit around Mars, came within 51.6 miles (83 kilometers) of Phobos on Sept. 22, 2022 and was able to probe beneath the moon's surface using upgraded software on its MARSIS instrument (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding).
Understanding the interior structure of Phobos could be key in solving the mystery of its origin.
A close-up of the Martian moon Phobos.
(Image credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin)
Mars has two moons, named Phobos and Deimos after the gods of 'fear' and 'panic' in Greek mythology. Unlike the major moons of our solar system, Phobos and Deimos are tiny, just 16.7 miles (27 kilometers) and 9.3 miles (15 kilometers) across, respectively. They have a similar composition to carbonaceous C-type asteroids, and are irregularly shaped like asteroids too, which has led to the suspicion that they actually are rogue asteroids captured by Mars' gravity. However, both Phobos and Deimos' orbits around the red planet are over Mars' equator and both orbits are extremely circular, which suggests they formed around Mars. If they had been captured, they would be expected to have more elliptical orbits in different planes.
MARSIS involves a 40-meter-long antenna beaming low frequency radio waves down to the surface. Most of the radio waves are reflected directly back from the surface, but some penetrate deeper, where they encounter transitions between layers of different composition and structure, and are reflected back by these boundaries. The stronger the reflection in the resulting 'radargram', the brighter the returning radio signal.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Call in the DOOM guy...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm932Sqwf5E
We're DOOMED! DOOMED I TELL YA!!
They’re the remnants of a space elevator.🤔
“Rip and tear until it is done.”
It’s a cold hunk of rock.
This obviously proves Global Warming. Somehow.
I mean it has to, doesn’t it?
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