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New study provides explanation behind origins of Martian moons Phobos and Deimos
NASASpaceFlight.com ^ | November 24, 2024 | Haygen Warren

Posted on 12/29/2024 10:06:13 PM PST by SunkenCiv

Led by Jacob Kegerreis, the team's new study revealed that a rogue asteroid may have passed too close to Mars. During its flyby, Mars' strong gravitational pull would have disrupted, or ripped apart, the asteroid, leading to hundreds of thousands of small rocky fragments orbiting Mars.

While more than half of the fragments created from the disruption event are believed to have been ejected away from Mars, those trapped within the planet's orbit would have continued to collide, creating more debris. After these collisions stopped and the fragments settled into a ring around Mars, the material within the rings likely began clumping together, creating the Phobos and Deimos we know today...

The Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) mission is a Martian sample return mission led by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that will travel to both Phobos and Deimos. While at the moons, MMX will extensively study the moons and their characteristics to learn more about their composition and origin. While at Phobos, the MMX spacecraft will collect samples of the moon's surface to return to Earth, where it will be sent to a lab for in-depth study. The internal composition of the moons (i.e. what they're made of) could be the major clue that helps scientists determine whether or not the moons were once asteroids or the results of an impact/disruption event.

MMX is currently set for launch in 2026 and features a variety of instruments and technology demonstrations, including NASA's Mars-moon Exploration with Gamma Rays and Neutrons (MEGANE) instrument and a pneumatic sampler technology demonstration.

(Excerpt) Read more at nasaspaceflight.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; catastrophism; deimos; mars; phobos; science
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To: Blood of Tyrants
It's a testable model, which is part of the scientific method. But you go ahead and make any baseless claim you want.

21 posted on 12/31/2024 7:42:23 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Accretion


22 posted on 12/31/2024 7:43:50 AM PST by bert ( (KE. NP. +12) Where is ZORRO when California so desperately needs him?)
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To: SunkenCiv

So it isn’t to be questioned? That’s “science”?


23 posted on 12/31/2024 8:01:18 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Before you post a nasty, stop and think: "Would that person slap me if I said it in person?" )
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To: webheart

Or they’re the remains of a space elevator.🤔


24 posted on 01/07/2025 3:28:23 PM PST by BiteYourSelf ( Earth first, we'll strip mine the other planets later.)
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