Phobos South Pole from Mars Express
Explanation:
Where on this moon would you land?
The moon
pictured above is not Earth's moon but
Phobos,
the closest moon to the planet Mars.
Phobos is so close to Mars that it is expected to break
up and crash into the red planet within the next 100 million years.
Earlier just this year, however,
ESA's
Mars Express
mission took detailed images of the area surrounding Phobos' South Pole.
Visible on the small moon's
unusually dark surface are many
circular craters, long chains
of craters, and strange streaks.
Large
Stickney Crater, which looms on the far right,
was also visible in the
corresponding North Polar image taken last year.
This and other
similar images of Phobos
are so
detailed, resolving items
even 10-meters across, that they are useful for examining
proposed landing sites of the future Phobos-Grunt mission.
The Russian
Phobos-Grunt robotic spacecraft
is scheduled to launch toward
Phobos later this year and
return surface samples in 2014.
Vote:
Astronomy Picture of the Year 2010
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
