NASA's Perseverance Rover Doesn't Just Search for Rocks, Dust on Surface of Mars; It Spots Deimos, the Tiny Martian Moon, Too!

Recently shared online is an image captured by NASA's Perseverance rover looking up, zooming in to exhibit Phobos' tiny bright white dot that passes through the sky.

Indeed, as indicated in a Digital Trends report, this rover of the space agency doesn't just spend its time looking down at the dust and rocks covering Mars' surface.

Rather, it looks up as well, and just recently, it was able to capture an image of the tiny moon of Mars called Deimos as it hovered overhead in the Martian sky.

Perseverance, according to a Space.com report, which landed inside the 45-kilometer Jezero Crater early this year, typically has its head down, examining Martian rocks and dirt.

Its main tasks, after all, include searching for signs of ancient life on Mars and collecting samples for future return to this planet.

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Deimos

Deimos is the smaller of the two moons of Mars, along with Phobos as its larger companion. It measures less than two miles across and is covered in impact craters from asteroid tracks.

More so, this smaller Martian moon is also covered in dust, giving it a smoother appearance compared to Phobos.

This report also said a particularly interesting concept about the moons of Mars is that they could once "have been rings" as those surrounding Saturn.

Over thousands of years, the materials in these said rings condensed into the pair of moons seen today. More so, the moons might not exist forever.

One theory states that eventually, the larger Phobos moon will come near Mars ad break apart into small pieces, becoming a rings set. This may even run a cycle, with Mars shifting between moons and rings over millennia.

Martian Moons

Essentially, the 12.4-kilometer-wide Deimos orbits more than 12,450 kilometers above the Red Planet, completing a one almost circular lap around the planet every 30 hours.

On the other hand, Phobos is roughly 22 kilometers in diameter and orbits at a more than 9,200-kilometer altitude. For most astronomers, both satellites are asteroids that were captured by the gravity of Mars.

The Martian moons have also been in recent reports as Japanese scientists suggested that the Phobos, the companion of Dimos, may be the perfect site to search for indications of ancient life.

Even though the moon itself doesn't have water and atmosphere, making it inappropriate for hosting life, it could carry evidence if there was once life on the Red Planet.

Asteroid strikes on the surface of Mars have sent material flying onto the larger moon, and its sterile environment could have these signs preserved long-term.

More information about these Martian moons will be available as the JAXA Japanese space agency will be delivering its Martian Moons eXploration or MMX probe for both of them to be visited.

A similar Daily News Tracker report said the plan is for NASA's Perseverance rover to land on Phobos to collect a sample to bring back to this planet, and it will carry out as well a flyby of Deimos on its way. The target launch for this mission is in 2024.

Report about NASA's Perseverance rover spotting Deimos is shown on Physics Insight's YouTube video below: