Snapshot
March 15, 2010
Today the European Space Agency released this image, taken by the Mars Express orbiter on March 7, 2010, of the Mars moon Phobos. Mars Express orbits the Red Planet in an elliptical, polar obit that allows it to pass twice a year near Phobos, one of two moons that orbit Mars. From just 41.6 miles altitude, the closest any manmade object has passed to Phobos, the resolution of the image is just over 14 feet per pixel. Based on Phobos' size, with an average diameter of less than 14 miles, and its uneven shape, scientists think the tiny moon may be an asteroid captured by Mars' gravity. In 2011, Russia plans to send an unmanned lander to Phobos—it was supposed to go in 2009—and bring a soil sample back to Earth. That would mark the first time humans have retrieved soil from another planet (Apollo astronauts brought back more than 800 pounds of soil and rock from the moon).
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