Things may have been pretty messy around the red planet in its past.
New research suggests the possibility that the martian satellites – Phobos and Deimos — may have been the result of giant impact.
The new theory is just out in the prestigious Icarus International Journal of Solar Systems Studies. This view of the Mars moons comes from Smithsonian scientist Robert Craddock at the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Craddock suggests that Phobos and Deimos were created as aftermath from an immense impact sending debris into an orbit around Mars.
In the past, scientists viewed the moons as asteroids that were trapped in orbit by the planet’s gravity.
There is also the view that a gigantic impact also sliced into an early hot ‘Planet Earth’ tossing hot volcanic liquid material into an orbit. That material eventually formed into our planet’s Moon. That being the case, it is considered highly probable that a giant impact on a very early Mars also hurled its material into orbit.
But there’s a difference. Unlike the Earth’s Moon, this material never merged into a solitary giant moon; instead, a number of smaller moonlets were formed.
Over time the orbits of many inconsequential moonlets eventually decayed and crashed into the surface of Mars. In time only the two largest moons were left and this appears to explain the consistent orbits of Phobos and Deimos, according to Craddock’s work.
Furthermore, Craddock notes that the low mass of Phobos and Deimos is explained by the possibility that they are composed of loosely aggregated material, which also implies that they do not contain any volatile elements.
Future robotic and human exploration of the Mars moons should further our understanding of these objects.
By Leonard David