Probe gets eyeful of Mars moon

July 31, 2008

Europe’s Mars Express spacecraft has returned some remarkable close-up images of the Red Planet’s Phobos moon.

The probe passed just 93km from the rock on 23 July, allowing its High Resolution Stereo Camera to take extremely detailed pictures.

Potato-shaped Phobos is 27km in its longest dimension and is thought to be a captured-asteroid or a remnant of the material that formed the planets.

The new images include portions of the moon not previously photographed.

They also show clearly the satellite’s famous grooves.

The European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft took this image of Mars’ largest moon, Phobos, on 23 July 2008. The large grooves on its surface could have been caused by a collision with debris thrown up from Mars after a space impact.

More of the story,
click image

Posted in Science and Technology, Space Exploration