Phobos flyby success

For those that haven't heard yet Mars Express performed it's closest pass to Phobos yet, all the while collecting data and taking pictures.

Seems they discovered that it is much more porous than previously thought.

Something is not right about Phobos. It looks like a solid object but previous flybys have shown that it is not dense enough to be solid all the way through. Instead, it must be 25-35% porous. This has led planetary scientists to believe that it is little more than a 'rubble pile' circling Mars. Such a rubble pile would be composed of blocks both large and small resting together, with possibly large spaces between them where they do not fit easily together.

Article Link

Mars Express has 11 more close passes to make then hopefully we will start to see some nice new pictures.

The low density of Phobos has been known about for some time. The flyby will provide more data about it.

news.softpedia.com...

I'm quite excited about the upcoming photos. I wonder if we will be able to see if it is just a Lego moon.

Thanks Phage.
A fact I would have known had I read a little more carefully and noticed the word "previous" in the second sentence.

reply to post by The Teller


Doubtful they will, but I hope they find out something really unusual about it.
I don't mean a base, monolith, or crashed craft or anything like that. They probably already know about that. LoL

Just something weird enough to increase public/scientific interest enough to keep the space program funded.

The distance from the moon's centre was 656 km, and the image resolution is 6 m/pixel. The original image has been corrected for mirror distortion. Credit: ESA/ DLR/ FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

There you go, they removed the ET and there homes of Phobose, that is a no no!

These new pictures should indicate what direction NASA wants to go in. If they do sanitize the images of the monolithic structure, then it means business as usual. If they do show us what they know is there, then this may be literally the first domino to be knocked on the path to disclosure. If they want more funding, they may have to show us their most interesting data for once. Here's a link to a world famous astroman's confession about Phobos.

[edit on 5-3-2010 by ToHoldaPigeon]

(fixed link)


[edit on Sun Mar 7 2010 by Jbird]

reply to post by ToHoldaPigeon


Your YouTube link isn't working.

Thats an interesting thought though, I can't believe it never crossed my mind.

Maybe someone at NASA who wants to keep their job will let some indisputable evidence slip and then hopefully people will take notice and force this issue en masse.

The misterious Phobos.
It seem have been BUILT.

New Phobos photo's are published on ESA's site.
Those are some stunning shots! Who can find the monolith?

reply to post by 137


Good find!

If no one finds the monolith, I bet some one will find something else.
Maybe a shadowy crater that looks like an entrance to an alien base.

Originally posted by Arimbari
The misterious Phobos.
It seem have been BUILT.

If it's been built, they used conglomerate cement mix and placed it in a deteriorating orbit...damn those cowboy builders and their disregard for H&S building regs...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4a3e4e6395ce.jpg[/atsimg]

CHOMIK Will Sink Its Teeth Into Surface of Enigmatic Martian Moon Phobos

ScienceDaily (Apr. 8, 2010) — The Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw has started work on developing a geological penetrator CHOMIK (the Polish word for hamster), intended for the Russian space mission Phobos Sample Return. The return spacecraft will reach Earth in mid-2014 with a soil sample collected by the penetrator on the surface of the Martian moon Phobos.

Full article: www.sciencedaily.com...