Deimos (moon)

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"Mars II" redirects here. For other uses, see Mars II (disambiguation).
Deimos
Deimos-MRO.jpg
An enhanced-color image of Deimos (MRO, 21 February 2009).
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Discovery
Discovered by Asaph Hall
Discovery date 12 August 1877
Designations
Adjectives Deimosian
Orbital characteristics
Epoch 2012-Sep-21
(JD 2456191.5)
Periapsis 23455.5 km
Apoapsis 23470.9 km
Semi-major axis
23463.2 km[1] (6.92 Mars radii)
Eccentricity 0.00033[1]
Orbital period
1.263 d[1]
(30.312 h)
Average orbital speed
1.3513 km/s[2]
Inclination 0.93� (to Mars's equator)
1.791� (to the local Laplace plane)[1]
27.58� (to the ecliptic)
Satellite of Mars
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 15 � 12.2 � 11 km[3]
Mean radius
6.2 � 0.18 km[4]
(0.97316 mEarths)
Surface area
495.1548 km2
(97.0755 �Earths)
Volume 999.78 km3
(92.2979 nEarths)
Mass 1.4762�1015 kg[2]
(0.247179 nEarths)
Mean density
1.471�0.166 g/cm3[4]
Surface gravity
0.003 m/s2[2]
(306 �g)
Escape velocity
5.556 m/s
(20 km/h)[2]
Rotation period
Synchronous[1]
Albedo 0.068 � 0.007[4]
Temperature �?233 K
Apparent magnitude
12.89[5]
Deimos (systematic designation: Mars II)[6] is the smaller and outer of the two
natural satellites of the planet Mars, the other being Phobos. Deimos has a mean
radius of 6.2 km (3.9 mi)[1] and takes 30.3 hours[1] to orbit Mars. In Greek
mythology, Deimos is the twin brother of Phobos and personified terror.
Deimos is 23,460 km (14,580 mi) from Mars, much farther than Mars's other moon,
Phobos.[7]

Contents
1 Discovery
2 Physical characteristics
2.1 Named geological features
3 Orbital characteristics
3.1 Solar transits
4 Origin
5 Exploration
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
Discovery
Main article: Moons of Mars � Discovery

Deimos (Viking 2, 5 October 1977)[8]

Deimos was discovered by Asaph Hall, III at the United States Naval Observatory in
Washington, D.C on 12 August 1877, at about 07:48 UTC (given in contemporary
sources as "11 August 14:40" Washington Mean Time, using an astronomical convention
of beginning a day at noon, so 12 hours must be added to get the actual local mean
time).[9][10][11][12] Hall also discovered Phobos on 18 August 1877, at about 09:14
GMT, after deliberately searching for Martian moons.

It is named after Deimos, a figure representing dread in Greek mythology.[6] The

names, at first spelled Phobus and Deimus, were suggested by Henry Madan
(1838�1901),[6] Science Master of Eton, from Book XV of the Iliad, where Ares (the
Roman god Mars) summons Dread (Deimos) and Fear (Phobos).[13]

Physical characteristics

The surface of Deimos from 30 km (Viking, 1977)[14]

Deimos, like Mars's other moon, Phobos, has spectra, albedos, and densities similar
to those of a C- or D-type asteroid[citation needed]. Like most bodies of its size,
Deimos is highly non-spherical with triaxial dimensions of 15 � 12.2 � 11 km,[3]
making it 0.56 times the size of Phobos. Deimos is composed of rock rich in
carbonaceous material, much like C-type asteroids and carbonaceous chondrite
meteorites[citation needed]. It is cratered, but the surface is noticeably smoother
than that of Phobos, caused by the partial filling of craters with
regolith[citation needed]. The regolith is highly porous and has a radar-estimated
density of only 1.471 g/cm3.[15]

Escape velocity from Deimos is 5.6 m/s.[2] The apparent magnitude of Deimos is
12.45.[4]

Named geological features

Only two geological features on Deimos have been given names. The craters Swift and
Voltaire are named after writers who speculated on the existence of two Martian
moons before Phobos and Deimos were discovered.[16]

DEIMOS[17]
Deimos Crater Names
Deimos Crater Names (view � discuss)
VOLTAIRE
SWIFT
Craters Coordinates Diameter
(km) Approval
Year Eponym Ref
Swift 12.5�N 1.8�E 1 1973 Jonathan Swift; British writer (1667�1745)
WGPSN
Voltaire 22�N 3.5�W 1.9 1973 Voltaire; French writer (1694�1778) WGPSN
Orbital characteristics

Orbits of Phobos and Deimos (to scale)

Deimos's orbit is nearly circular and is close to Mars's equatorial plane. Deimos
is possibly an asteroid that was perturbed by Jupiter into an orbit that allowed it
to be captured by Mars, though this hypothesis is still controversial and disputed.
[18] Both Deimos and Phobos have very circular orbits which lie almost exactly in
Mars's equatorial plane, and hence a capture origin requires a mechanism for
circularizing the initially highly eccentric orbit, and adjusting its inclination
into the equatorial plane, most likely by a combination of atmospheric drag and
tidal forces;[19] it is not clear that sufficient time was available for this to
have occurred for Deimos.[18]

Curiosity's view of the Mars moons: Phobos passing in front of Deimos � in real-
time (video-gif, 1 August 2013)
As seen from Mars, Deimos would have an angular diameter of no more than 2.5
minutes (sixty minutes make one degree), one twelfth of the width of the Moon as
seen from Earth, and would therefore appear almost star-like to the naked eye.[20]
At its brightest ("full moon") it would be about as bright as Venus is from Earth;
at the first- or third-quarter phase it would be about as bright as Vega. With a
small telescope, a Martian observer could see Deimos's phases, which take
1.2648[citation needed] days (Deimos's synodic period) to run their course.[20]

Unlike Phobos, which orbits so fast that it rises in the west and sets in the east,
Deimos rises in the east and sets in the west. The Sun-synodic orbital period of
Deimos of about 30.4 hours exceeds the Martian solar day ("sol") of about 24.7
hours by such a small amount that 2.48 days (2.41 sols) elapse between its rising
and setting for an equatorial observer. From Deimos-rise to Deimos-rise (or setting
to setting), 5.466 days (5.320 sols) elapse.

Because Deimos's orbit is relatively close to Mars and has only a very small
inclination to Mars's equator, it cannot be seen from Martian latitudes greater
than 82.7�.

Deimos's orbit is slowly getting larger, because it is far enough away from Mars
and because of tidal acceleration. It is expected to eventually escape Mars's
gravity.[21]

Solar transits

Deimos transits the Sun � as viewed by the Mars rover Opportunity (4 March 2004)
Main article: Transit of Deimos from Mars
Deimos regularly passes in front of the Sun as seen from Mars. It is too small to
cause a total eclipse, appearing only as a small black dot moving across the Sun.
Its angular diameter is only about 2.5 times the angular diameter of Venus during a
transit of Venus from Earth. On 4 March 2004 a transit of Deimos was photographed
by Mars rover Opportunity, and on 13 March 2004 a transit was photographed by Mars
rover Spirit.

Origin
Deimos imaged by one of the Viking orbiters
The origin of Mars's moons is unknown and the hypotheses are controversial.[18] The
main hypotheses are that they formed either by capture or by accretion. Because of
the similarity to the composition of C- or D-type asteroids, one hypothesis is that
the moons may be objects captured into Martian orbit from the asteroid belt, with
orbits that have been circularized either by atmospheric drag or tidal forces,[22]
as capture requires dissipation of energy. The current Martian atmosphere is too
thin to capture a Phobos-sized object by atmospheric braking.[18] Geoffrey Landis
has pointed out that the capture could have occurred if the original body was a
binary asteroid that separated due to tidal forces.[23] The main alternative
hypothesis is that the moons accreted in the present position. Another hypothesis
is that Mars was once surrounded by many Phobos- and Deimos-sized bodies, perhaps
ejected into orbit around it by a collision with a planetesimal.[24][25]

Exploration

The relative sizes of Deimos and Phobos as seen from Mars, compared to the relative
size of the Moon as seen from Earth
Overall, its exploration history is similar to those of Mars and of Phobos.[26]
Deimos has been photographed in close-up by several spacecraft whose primary
mission has been to photograph Mars. No landings on Deimos have been made.

The Soviet Phobos program sent two probes to Phobos. In case Phobos 1 succeeded,
Phobos 2 could have been sent to Deimos. Both probes launched successfully in July
1988. The first was lost en route to Mars, whereas the second returned some data
and images but failed shortly before beginning its detailed examination of Phobos's
surface, including a lander.

In 1997 and 1998, the proposed Aladdin mission was selected as a finalist in the
NASA Discovery Program. The plan was to visit both Phobos and Deimos, and launch
projectiles at the satellites. The probe would collect the ejecta as it performed a
slow flyby (~1 km/s).[27] These samples would be returned to Earth for study three
years later.[28][29] The principal investigator was Carle M. Pieters of Brown
University. The total mission cost, including launch vehicle and operations was
$247.7 million.[30] Ultimately, the mission chosen to fly was MESSENGER, a probe to
the planet Mercury.[31]

In 2008, NASA Glenn Research Center began studying a Phobos and Deimos sample-
return mission that would use solar electric propulsion. The study gave rise to the
"Hall" mission concept, a New Frontiers-class mission currently under further
study.[32]

Also, the sample-return mission called Gulliver has been conceptualized and
dedicated to Deimos,[33] in which 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of material from Deimos
would be returned to Earth.[33]

Another concept of sample-return mission from Phobos and Deimos is OSIRIS-REx 2,

which would use heritage from the first OSIRIS-REx.[34]

In March 2014, a Discovery class mission was proposed to place an orbiter on Mars
orbit by 2021 and study Phobos and Deimos. It is called Phobos And Deimos & Mars
Environment (PADME).[35][36]

Human exploration of Deimos could serve as a catalyst for the human exploration of
Mars. Recently, it was proposed that the sands of Deimos or Phobos could serve as a
valuable material for aerobraking in the colonization of Mars.[37] Because the
small delta-v budget of Phobos, a small amount of chemical fuel brought from Earth
could be transformed in a very large amount of sand lifted from the surface of
Phobos � from a permanent outpost, to a transfer orbit. This sand could be released
in front of the spacecraft during the descent maneuver and then resulting in a
densification of the atmosphere just in front of the spacecraft.