The moon of Mars named Phobos could tell us some secrets regarding the formation of Mars. This moon is performing a slow to spiral above the planet by the time we are talking about it.
The orbit of Phobos around Mars gradually degrades over many years, and it brings the moon through multiple ions or charged molecules of nitrogen, carbon, argon, and oxygen that have been coming out from the atmosphere of Mars for billions of years. According to a new study, some ions may remain on the surface of Phobos.
The observations noted by NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission was used to conclude the evidence derived by the study. This mission has been put to task for examining the atmosphere of Mars since 2014 when it first entered the orbit of this Red Planet. This spacecraft moves in a way that makes it cross Phobos’ orbit exactly 5 times in every one day of Earth.
The STATIC (Superthermal and Thermal Ion Composition) instrument of MAVEN measures the ions of Mars present in the orbit of the Martian moon Phobos. This information would help the scientists in estimating the depth at which such ions can dive down into the surface of Phobos if they collided with this moon if Mars. According to the estimate by researchers, the ions went as far as a few hundred nm (nanometer). This measurement is 250 times narrower than the width of any human hair according to NASA.
In a statement, Quentin Nenon a lead author of the study and the researcher at the Space Sciences Lab of the University of California.
It is believed that a close study of the ions on Phobos could tell us more about the mystery of the Red Planet Mars.
