Heres why I want to go.
Posted on 07/29/2003 8:56:47 AM PDT by RightWhale
New Theory: Catastrophe Created Mars' Moons
By Leonard David Senior Space Writer
posted: 07:00 am ET 29 July 2003
PASADENA, California – The two moons of Mars – Phobos and Deimos – could be the byproducts of a breakup of a huge moon that once circled the red planet, according to a new theory. The capture of a large Martian satellite may have taken place during or shortly after the formation of the planet, with Phobos and Deimos now the surviving remnants.
Origin of the two moons presents a longstanding puzzle to which one researcher proposed the new solution at the 6th International Conference on Mars, held here last week. "Nobody has been able to explain the origin of Phobos and Deimos," said S. Fred Singer of the University of Virginia’s Science & Environmental Policy Project in Arlington, Virginia.
Violating laws
Based on research performed as a visiting scientist at the Lunar & Planetary Institute in Houston in October 2002, Singer said that conventional hypotheses about the moons either violate physical laws or have difficulty accounting for their observed orbits
Singer reported at the meeting that "there are no ready alternatives to explain the origin of the Martian moons."
At present, both satellites have near-circular and near-equatorial orbits. Phobos’ orbit, however, has been observed to shrink since its discovery in 1877. The present track of Deimos -- just beyond the synchronous limit where it nearly matches the spin rate of Mars – is an important data point, Singer said. "Is that by accident? I don’t think so…it gives you a clue about its origin," he told SPACE.com.
Through a complex set of orbital calculations involving Mars, the large hypothetical Mars moon itself, and tracing back in time the past and present whereabouts of Phobos and Deimos, Singer believes he has a case. In the Singer scenario, the close proximity of a large original moon to the red planet – captured in Mars synchronous orbit -- would have eventually fractured the object. Gravitational pushes and tugs would have turned it into a rubble pile that would still cling together gravitationally. "Forces would soon drive the largest pieces into Mars, with the smallest pieces remaining as Phobos and Deimos," Singer said. In the breakup process, the most massive pieces would spiral in far more rapidly, crashing into the planet. "We need to look for some sign that these existed."
Phobos: going, going, gone
A fundamental prediction by Singer is that the moons are similar in composition and petrology. However, Phobos and Deimos do not appear to be comparable. That distinction is obvious in looking at the differences in their regoliths – each moon’s topside covering. "We need both surface and deep samples to decide this issue, and to investigate whether Phobos and Deimos once formed as parts of a larger body, most of which has now disappeared, perhaps by impacting on Mars," Singer said.
Singer said Phobos will die in a few million years. "We’re lucky in the sense that we’re seeing Phobos while it’s still around," he said.
Destination Deimos
Singer has plans for Deimos. The scientist believes the moon would serve as a natural space station for future human explorers.
"First of all, humans on the surface of Mars cannot really do the exploration directly. They have to use rovers to get around. To go from the equator to a pole on Mars just takes too long. It’s a big, dangerous journey," Singer said. What Singer envisions is a Deimos gateway to extensive Mars exploration. An encampment of astronauts would reside on the Martian moon. From there, dozens of rovers could be autopiloted, in real-time.
"There would be no time delay, or so short that it’s within the human reaction time," Singer said. From Deimos, quick, down-to-the-surface sorties could be undertaken by humans to select areas, he added.
"This would be a 15-year project, as I look at it. It would cost roughly $30 billion, funded at some $2 billion a year average. That’s well within the existing NASA budget," Singer said. On the political side, Congress is not likely to fund a long series of robotic roving probes to Mars that extends over decades. "That would not be a very efficient way of studying Mars. If you want to solve the really big problems of Mars, like origin of life, you need to do this in one fell swoop," Singer concluded.
Heres why I want to go.
Look again. One side is blasted off. Just like earth. Where is the missing crust?
This discription is within 20% accurate
It's not within 20% accurate. The orbital radii of the moons are at 9378 km and 23459, or about 1.4 and 3.5 diameters.
Still, it is remarkable.
LOL! Good one!
You're a marine, one of Earth's toughest, hardened in combat and trained for action. Three years ago you assaulted a superior officer for ordering his soldiers to fire upon civilians. He and his body cast were shipped to Pearl Harbor, while you were transferred to Mars, home of the Union Aerospace Corporation. The UAC is a multi-planetary conglomerate with radioactive waste facilities on Mars and its two moons, Phobos and Deimos. With no action for fifty million miles, your day consisted of suckin' dust and watchin' restricted flicks in the rec room.
For the last four years the military, UAC's biggest supplier, has used the remote facilities on Phobos and Deimos to conduct various secret projects, including research on inter-dimensional space travel. So far they have been able to open gateways between Phobos and Deimos, throwing a few gadgets into one and watching them come out the other. Recently however, the Gateways have grown dangerously unstable. Military "volunteers" entering them have either disappeared or been stricken with a strange form of insanity-babbling vulgarities, bludgeoning anything that breathes, and finally suffering and untimely death of full body explosion. Matching heads with torsos to send home to the folks became a full-time job. Latest military reports state that the research is suffering a small set-back, but everything is under control.
A few hours ago, Mars received a garbled message from Phobos. "We require immediate military support. Something fraggin' evil is coming out of the Gateways! Computer systems have gone berserk!" The rest was incoherent. Soon Afterwards, Deimos simply vanished from the sky. Since then, attempts to establish contact with either moon have been unsuccessful. You and your buddies, the only combat troop for fifty million miles were sent up pronto to Phobos. You were ordered to secure the perimeter of the base while the rest of the team went inside. For several hours, your radio picked up the sounds of combat: guns firing, men yelling orders, screams, bones cracking, then finally, silence. Seems your buddies are dead. It's Up To You Things aren't looking too good.
You'll never navigate off the planet on your own. Plus, all the heavy weapons have been taken by the assault team leaving you with only a pistol. If only you could get your hands around a plasma rifle or even a shotgun you could take a few down on your way out. Whatever killed your buddies deserves a couple of pellets in the forehead. Securing your helmet, you exit the landing pod. Hopefully you can find more substantial fire power somewhere within the station. As you walk through the main entrance of the base, you hear animal like growls echoing throughout the distant corridors. They know your here. There's no turning back now.
This picture seems to show plastering though: 
Plus topographical studies show that the plastered side is sitting on top of the exposed unplastered side.
Let me rephrase that. Topographical studies (or studies of the crust) show that the loose pastered debris is sitting on top of a former surface that is visible on the unplastered side.
When they taught in the 50s the story of where the moon came from, they had diagrams showing the moon material being ripped from one side of the earth's crust presumably where the Pacific Basin is today. Something similar could have happened to Mars, but there is of course nothing left of this material except the two small pieces Phobos and Deimos, if they came from that event and aren't just some kind of captured asteroids. There is no reason to expect that a captured asteroid would settle into a circular orbit except that is what happens apparently around Jupiter and Saturn. What could circularize such orbits when there are only a couple of small moons?
The faster something travels the more speed it loses when it collects space dust, meteors, etc., perhaps. If there was a giant disentegration of a large planet, then all the extra dust and debris in the inner solar system would serve as a drag on any object in an elliptical orbit because objects in an elliptical orbits would have portions of their orbits where they are going faster than the dust and objects their colliding with before gravitational attraction sped up the dust and debris right before impact. It would be more of a drag when the object is going fast and less of a drag or perhaps even a push when the object is going slow in it's various positions of it's elliptical orbit. Over time, that would circularize the orbit, I would think, especially on a relatively small planet like Mars, or on a small moon like Phobos. As the inner solar system has been cleaned up over time, this drag is less apparent now but it could've been a lot greater right after the event. Maybe Mars hasn't collected enough debris and dust to circularize it's orbit, I don't know. From what I understand Mars orbit isn't all that stable. It could mean it hasn't been where it's at for very long.
Are you kidding me? You'd have to have 'nads to try a stunt like that. Those guys usually took a giant-size chunk outta my face before I could fire up the 'saw. I'd rather shove both barrels of my shotgun into its mouth and pull the trigger. Or whip out the plasma rifle and liquify its eyeball.
I've uttered more naughty words than I can count stalking those things late at night. Of course, nothing beat the feeling of hearing the blood-curdling roar of a Pinkie behind you, whipping around, then blowing him away.
The same effect that causes comets to break up as they pass Jupiter could lift the crust from a planet to form a moon, without a direct impact between the two bodies.
Of course, if the bodies pass too close, the less massive one becomes an asteroid belt.
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