by Stephen Smith
August 04, 2011

from Thunderbolts Website

 

 

 

 

Previously considered (blue) and current mission landing sites.
Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

 

 

A Russian space mission will attempt to land a sample return package on Phobos.

In October 2011 the Russian Space agency, RosCosmos, will launch a scientific instrument package toward Mars, with a planned landing on its largest moon in either March or April of 2013.

 

The small lander will gather samples of the surface and then blast off for a rendezvous with an Earth return vehicle.
 

 

Phobos

 

 

 

Deimos

 

 

Phobos and Deimos are the two moons of Mars, although Deimos is so small it cannot be readily observed from Earth. Only the Viking 2 orbiter captured close up images in 1976.

 

Phobos has been extensively studied by Earth-based telescopes and by satellites in Mars orbit (below image).
 

 

 

 

Picture of the Day articles about Mars have shown that it was once immersed in a plasma flame sufficiently large to gouge out Valles Marineris (below image).

 

 

 

 

Millions of cubic kilometers of rock and dust were blasted out from the planet at escape velocity.

 

Stone blocks larger than Manhattan Island fell back to Mars from a great height, shattering on impact. This explains the fields of enormous boulders with sharp edges covering millions of square kilometers.

 

Could it be that moons like Phobos and Deimos, as well as asteroids like Ida, were also born from that cataclysm?

Stickney crater dominates one hemisphere of Phobos. It is 10 kilometers wide and more than 100 meters deep. Many previous articles mention the physical problems associated with blasting large craters into small bodies.

 

For example, there is a hole in asteroid 253 Mathilde (below image) that should have caused it to disintegrate.

 

 

 

 

Phobos is a mere 28 by 20 kilometers in size, so Stickney is nearly half as big.

Scientists speculate that asteroids (and perhaps small moons) are loose aggregations of rocks and soil, similar to a gravel pit in space. Since they were not blown apart from meteor impacts, it is thought that they most likely behaved like a pile of sand, cushioning the shock.

 

Does the gravel pile theory best fit the facts?

Since Phobos is about the same size as asteroids Mathilde (image 1), Eros (image 2) and Ida (image 3), exhibiting the same features like relatively gigantic craters (image 4),

Is there a common event that can form similar structures without obliterating the objects in the first place?

 

Image 1

 

 

Image 2

 

 

Image 3

 

 

Image 4

 

 

The answer is electricity.

The electrical history of the solar system includes intensely energetic events and violent interactions between charged planets and moons.

 

That electric arcs can remove material with ease is proven by the experiments conducted by Dr. C.J. Ransom of VEMASAT Laboratories. His plasma discharges excavate surface depressions, scoop out material, and explode it into the air, leaving cleanly cut features.

The lightning bolts that carved Mars threw large chunks of its crust into orbit around it, as well as sending them around the Sun.

 

The electric fields that accompanied the celestial disasters of the past smoothed and eroded them with plasma discharges. The result is that Phobos and the asteroids mentioned are covered in dust, are defined by huge craters, and look like they're half-melted.

Phobos and Deimos appear to be remnants of a catastrophic event that electrically devastated their parent planet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 Russia to Send Probe to Phobos
by anon72
August 12, 2010

from AboveTopSecret Website


The launch of an unmanned lander to one of the Martian moons has been slated for November 2011. The Phobos-Grunt probe will be sent to the surface of Phobos, and then return to Earth with soil samples (Source)

Here is a sample of the photos I have typically seen related to Phobos (Source):
 

 

The Phobos monolith (right of center)

as taken by the Mars Global Surveyor (MOC Image 55103) in 1998.

 

 


Viking 1 image of Phobos

with Stickney Crater to the right

 

 


Some of the named craters of Phobos.

C = Clustril; D = Drunlo; F = Flimnap;

L = Limtoc; R = Reldresal; S = Stickney;

Sk = Skyresh.

Grildrig is on the horizon below Skyresh and Flimnap.
 

 

But, when I saw the associate picture with the Russian story, I thought who in there right mind WOULDN'T want us to get there ASAP.
 

 

Phobos

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/ru.wikipedia.org

Enhanced-color view of Stickney Crater by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Source

 

 

Now look at those dents and other marks.

 

The Rust color added for effect? Or is a true representation of what it really looks like. Look at the photos credits. NASA is stamped right there. So it must be a true reflection of what it looks like.

 

How can anyone not be curious to see if it is some type of craft or artificial object.

 

Seems to me, from this photo, its more like than not that this particular moon is odd-at the least. And, if so, we must get to it. Them dam craters need some investigating - and the monolith, and the strafing marks...


If NASA is standing by this color-enhanced version of the photo and willing to put it out to the public, then I say that is sufficient proof to justify the cost of landing on that puppy and investigating it...