Space Development & Settlement | Earth & Humanity's Future | Scientific Musings & Explorations

There is admittedly not much reason for this post other than to put up some great images of Mars’ moon Phobos. In an upcoming post I’ll be talking about why I think Phobos is a fantastic spot for a “research station” (Hint: we can study asteroids, ISRU, Martian seasons, and space transportation all in one project). It’s not currently well understood just how Phobos came to orbit Mars. It appears to be a captured asteroid but the way in which that happened isn’t clear. Phobos is, as far as we can currently tell, a Carbonaceous Chondrite (a subset of Chondrites that are more rich in volatiles). These types of asteroids typically are found in the outer part of the asteroid belt while “dryer” types are found closer to the sun. How this fellow and his pal Deimos came to orbit Mars is currently anyone’s guess.

Phobos:  Prospects for Exploration

Phobos is an interesting prospect for exploration opportunities for a few reasons. The first is that it actually requires a bit less energy to get to Phobos and back than a comparable trip to the Moon (assuming surface landings). Why? Well, the Moon is heavier and we’ll burn more energy leaving (so let’s not fool ourselves and say it’s as easy as getting to the moon). Also, the same side of Phobos always faces Mars so it’s a great place for observing Mars over time! While we are at it, we can study asteroids and ways to gather useful resources from them. Maybe someday they’ll be more important to us as nightly companions in the sky as we view them from the surface of our new home – Mars!

Photos / Images of Phobos

Enjoy these images of Phobos from MRO!

Phobos in Full ColorPhobos from 6,800 Kilometers! Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Phobos from 6,800 Kilometers! Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Deimos

Phobos has a friend in the Martian sky too – Deimos!

Mars' Moon, and Phobos' Companion Deimos. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Until next time – keep looking up!

- J. Thomas

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Astrobotic Technology, a Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) spin-off company announced today that Caterpillar Inc. has agreed to be a sponsor for its first robotic mission to the lunar surface. Astrobotic has designed numerous technologies for lunar surface operations, and now has added some serious backing to its mission plans. This Astrobotic mission is planned to visit the Apollo 11 landing site in 2013 with a five-foot tall robot that will broadcast 3D high-def video via internet-video. Astrobotic and the team may end up sharing up to $24 million in the Google Lunar X-Prize, up to $10 million in sales of data products to NASA, and a $2 million bonus for utilizing a Florida launch site.

Concept Art: Astrobotic Lunar Rover for Lunar X-prize mission

As the number of contests, prizes, and data purchases increases the combined enticements are leading to far more serious efforts with more solid financial backing. NASA may not be going back to the Moon, but Astrobotic just might be!

Astrobotic Lunar X-prize Mission Plan and Overview

Caterpillar an Ongoing Supporter

Caterpillar has worked with Carnegie Mellon University before on projects like Carnegie Mellon’s winning machine in the 2007 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Urban Challenge, a competition for autonomous vehicles. Caterpillar has considerable experience in autonomous mining and construction machinery to leverage.

More information about lunar data product sales can be found in the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data (ILDD) BAA

Other Astrobotic sponsors include ANSYS – Simulation for Product Development

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While flipping through the latest issue of Scientific American Magazine for September 2010 with The End on the cover, I came across a section called Good Riddance – A highly selective list of human creations the world would be better off without. On the list along with landfills and dropped cellphone calls was the space shuttle! The subtitle for the space shuttle section states “This pickup truck to orbit was neither cheap nor safe” – Wow!  The very brief article itself mostly makes the case that the shuttle isn’t the vehicle we need going forward and that it’s good it’s being retired. Well, it is time for the shuttle to be replaced, but to state that the world would be better off without the space shuttle and kick it in the butt on the way out the door is shameful! Was it safe? Well, as safe as flying across the U.S. in a 747 – no. Safe as one of the first heavily used vehicles to get human beings to Earth-orbit – yes!  Getting to space is tough and dangerous. We have lost, and will continue to lose, great people and vehicles to accidents as assuredly as ships sank when we set to sea.

Sorry it wasn’t perfect Scientific American and article author John Pavlus, but it sure provided you folks with a whole lot of great articles and pictures over the years through the missions it enabled and the knowledge we gained.  The development of the space shuttle is one of humanity’s great achievements which is why they’ll be in museums and not landfills when finally retired.

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The MESSENGER spacecraft snapped a great photo of the Earth and our Moon from about 114 million miles while on its way to the planet Mercury. Here it is, with a bit of contrast enhancement over the original release:

Earth and Moon Seen From MESSENGER. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

This image was actually acquired as part of MESSENGER’s mission to search for vulcanoids, small rocky objects that may exist orbiting between Mercury and the Sun.

Image Info:

Date Acquired: May 6, 2010
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 181616382
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC Filter: 2 (clear filter)
Field of View: The WAC has a 10.5° field of view

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