NASA rover ‘Perseverance’ captures eclipse involving Mars’ satellite ‘Phobos’
Context
The Perseverance Mars rover belonging to the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has captured Phobos, Mars’ potato-shaped moon or satellite.
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Background
- NASA had captured Phobos for the first time in 2004, when the twin rovers ‘Spirit’ and ‘Opportunity’ took the lapse photos of Phobos during a solar eclipse.
Outcomes
- These observations can help scientists better understand Phobos’ orbit and how its gravity pulls on the Martian surface, ultimately shaping the red planet’s crust and mantle.
- They captured the eclipse with Perseverance’s next-generation Mastcam-Z camera, it lasted a little over 40 seconds — much shorter than a typical solar eclipse involving Earth’s Moon.
- The Phobos is about 157 times smaller than Earth’s Moon. Mars’ other moon, Deimos, is even smaller.
- Phobos is getting closer to the Martian surface and is destined to crash into the planet in tens of millions of years,
- Now NASA’s rover has provided the most zoomed-in video of a Phobos solar eclipse yet and at the highest-frame rate ever.
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Mars exploration mission
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Other Mars missions:
- India’s Mars Orbiter mission- The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called Mangalyaan is a space probe orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014.
- Nozami- Japan’s mars mission
- Phobos-1- Russia’s Mars exploration
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