Daniel PomarèdeAstronomy Picture of the Day
A Martian Eclipse: Phobos Crosses the Sun
Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, ASU MSSS, SSI
Khurram Wadee ✅
mespique (FR)True relative distances and sizes of Mars and its two satellites Phobos and Deimos, from Wikipedia
Spaceflight 🚀#MMX recently completed its journey to the #spaceport on #Tanegashima island. The mission will launch 🚀 on Japan's flagship #H3 rocket some time in November or December of this year https://www.space.com/astronomy/mars/japans-audacious-sample-return-mission-to-the-mars-moon-phobos-has-made-it-to-the-launch-pad
Daniel FischerTidal disruptions of rubble piles - the case of #Phobos: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.21912 -> Mars will tear its own moon apart. Now scientists think it could be sooner – and more destructive – than expected: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/mars-tear-phobos-apart-could-happen-sooner
Tidal disruptions of rubble piles: The case of Phobos
Many small satellites in the Solar System have sub-synchronous orbits, meaning their orbits are decaying due to tidal dissipation. Unless they have substantial material strength, they will eventually tidally disrupt before reaching their planet's surface. We studied the fate of rubble-pile satellites as they migrate inward, with a particular focus on the case of Phobos. We used a combination of analytic estimates and numerical simulations to determine the failure mode and tidal disruption distance of a Phobos-like satellite, as a function of its shape and cohesive strength. Both analytically and numerically, we identify a regime for satellites with low cohesive strengths whereby their surface can be tidally stripped without undergoing internal failure. Our numerical simulations demonstrate that Phobos will be destroyed beyond 2 Mars radii if it has a bulk strength similar to those estimated for small bodies recently visited by spacecraft. Based on our results and some additional arguments, we suggest that previous studies on the fate of Phobos have overestimated its strength, and therefore underestimated its tidal disruption distance. We also speculate that if Phobos undergoes some tidal stripping, its ultimate fate may be determined by runaway collisional erosion rather than a pure tidal disruption. However, the ultimate tidal disruption distance for Phobos will depend on its unknown internal structure and bulk material properties, which will be constrained by JAXA's Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission and its IDEFIX rover. These results have implications for theories about the origin and evolution of the Martian moons and for tidal disruptions of other small, irregularly shaped satellites.
🇯🇵 #MMX will launch* in 📆 2026 and enter #Mars 🔴 orbit a year later. It will deploy a small #German and #French-built rover which will travel around #Phobos for at least 100 days. Once MMX collects its samples, it will lift off, leave Mars in 2030 and return to Earth in 2031 https://www.planetary.org/space-missions/mmx
* 🚀 no earlier than October https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/4361/
3i/AtlasJapan's audacious sample-return mission to the Mars moon Phobos has made it to the launch pad
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=japans-audacious-sample-return-mission-to-the-mars-moon-phobos-has-made-it-to-the-launch-pad
<p>The complex MMX mission aims to shed light on the origins of Mars'
#audacious #mission #phobos #sample
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=japans-audacious-sample-return-mission-to-the-mars-moon-phobos-has-made-it-to-the-launch-pad
<p>The complex MMX mission aims to shed light on the origins of Mars'
#audacious #mission #phobos #sample
Revesdespace🛰️🔴 La sonde spatiale #MMX est arrivée au Centre spatial de Tanegashima de la JAXA (📷). Elle a été construite et testée dans l'usine Mitsubishi Electric de Kamakura avant son transfert à Tanegashima par bateau.
Le décollage vers #Mars et #Phobos est prévu en octobre
Le décollage vers #Mars et #Phobos est prévu en octobre
ForensicAI_X#Mikrobiologie:Könnte Leben durchs Sonnensystem reisen?
https://dauckchristian.home.blog/2026/03/07/mikrobiologie-planeten-hopping-der-mikroben-konnte-leben-durch-meteoriten-durchs-sonnensystem-reisen/ #Astrobiology #Panspermie #Marsforschung #Extremophile #DeinococcusRadiodurans #MarsSampleReturn #Perseverance #ExoMars #Phobos #MMXMission #PlanetaryScience #OriginsOfLife #SpaceScience #microbiology
https://dauckchristian.home.blog/2026/03/07/mikrobiologie-planeten-hopping-der-mikroben-konnte-leben-durch-meteoriten-durchs-sonnensystem-reisen/ #Astrobiology #Panspermie #Marsforschung #Extremophile #DeinococcusRadiodurans #MarsSampleReturn #Perseverance #ExoMars #Phobos #MMXMission #PlanetaryScience #OriginsOfLife #SpaceScience #microbiology
Mikrobiologie: Planeten-Hopping der Mikroben – Könnte Leben durch Meteoriten durchs Sonnensystem reisen?
Die Frage nach dem Ursprung des Lebens gehört zu den größten wissenschaftlichen Rätseln unserer Zeit. Entstand das Leben ausschließlich auf der Erde – oder könnte es einen kosmischen Ursprung haben…
The New Oil#Phobos #ransomware admin pleads guilty to wire fraud conspiracy
