Translated in 
Mars does have two moon - although they are small.
Both satellites resemble
asteroids instead of a
"normal" moon, indicating that both of the moons of
Mars were captured
asteroids, or residual debris of
a nearby collisions.Phobos:
Since Mars is the name of the Roman God of War,
it seems fair that its moons would be named justly.
Phobos is the Greek word for "fear."
The moon is 27 kilometers longs and orbits Mars
in only 8 hours. It is only 5700 kilometers from the
surface of Mars and it is predicted that in 100
millions years it will crash.
The most prominent feature of Phobos is Stickney
crater, the large crater on the left. The cracks are
a result of the impactor. Deimos: Deimos
is the Greek word for "panic," another suited named
for Mars, the Roman God of War. This moon is one of
the smallest in the Solar System at only 14.5
kilometers in length. It orbits Mars every 30 hours.
Deimos orbits at a distance of 23,460 kilometers
from Mars. Missions to Phobos and Deimos:
While the majority of missions to Mars also
photographed and studied the two moons, only the
Soviet Union sent probes to study only the moons. The Soviet Union sent two probes -
Phobos 1 and 2. Phobos 1 failed in 1988
en-route to Mars but Phobos 2 operated normally;
however attached to Phobos 2 was
a lander that unfortunately did fail to return data
to the Phobos 2 orbiter. The mission ended in 1989. Back to Top |
