The so-called "doomed Martian moon Phobos," which reports say that "is on a slow death spiral" may hold some secrets about the formation of Mars.
According to Space.com, "the moon's orbit of Mars" slowly degrading over the eons, is bringing it by means of ions or charged molecules of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and argon "that Mars has been shedding from its atmosphere" for billions of years.
A new study shows that some of these ions might stay on the surface of Phobos. It was based on observation from Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution or MAVENof NASA, which has been investigating the Martian atmosphere since it occurred in the orbit of the Red Planet in 2014. In addition, a spacecraft is also crossing Phobos' orbit five times every "Earth day."
Suprathermal and Thermal Ion Composition or STATIC instrument of MAVEN gauged the Martian ions in Phobos' orbit, enabling scientists to approximate how deeply such ions would plunge into the surface of Phobos if they were to bump with the Martian moon.
According to a statement from NASA, as a result, the researchers approximated that the ions dug not over a few hundred nanometers deep, or 250 times narrower than the human hair's width.
'Phobos'
According to researcher Quentin Nenon from the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, who is also the lead author of the study, they know that the Red Planet "lost its atmosphere to space" and now they know that some of it ended up on Phobos.
Nenon added, if somebody could examine Phobos up close, no one has gone there yet. More so, ion studies there could shed more light on the mystery of the reason Mars has been losing so much atmosphere, and the linked question of when water ceased from flowing on the surface of the planet.
Water is life's key ingredient, and addressing the argument will help scientists better understand Mars' chances for life.
The said report also indicates that while MAVEN has been additionally "looking at atmospheric loss on Mars for years," this Martian moon would offer one more perspective.
Essentially, Phobos has been watched from afar, although all initiatives to reach the moon so far were unsuccessful. Numerous planned missions never materialized, and even the ones got launched did not reach their destination which include Phobos 1 and Phobos 2 of the Soviet Union during the late 1980s, and the Phobos-Grunt mission that had never been able to manage the orbit of Earth in 2011 to 2012.
'Tidally' Locked to Mars
According to a NASA statement, "Phobos is tidally locked to Mars," like the moon of Earth is locked to this planet, therefore, frequently showing the planet only a single side.
Consequently, the rocks on Phobos' near side have reportedly been bathed for "millennia in Martian atoms and molecules."
The research of Nenon, presents that the topmost surface layer of the near side of Phobos has been subjected to 20 to 100 times more wayward Martian ions compared to its far side.
Investigating Phobos for hints about the atmosphere in Mars has precedent, a lot closer to home. The moon of Earth has atoms' record from both the Earth and sun, NASA specified in the same statement, which appeared in samples from the "Apollo human landing missions" of the 1960s and 1970s decades.
Moons described to be "airless" like Phobos, Deimos, its twin Martian moon, and the moon of Earth, are subjected to slight erosion as there is no significant atmosphere or surface processes such as water and wind. This gradually changing surface of the said moons, therefore, offers a valuable record of the history of the solar system.
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