UAE spacecraft captures most detailed photos of Mars' little moon
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This was the closest a spacecraft had been to Deimos in almost a half-century.
A spacecraft around Mars has captured the most-detailed photographs of the planet's little moon "Deimos". According to a report by the news agency Associated Press on Monday (April 24), the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Amal spacecraft flew within 100 kilometres of Deimos on March 10. The photographs were released on Monday. This was the closest a spacecraft had been to Deimos in almost a half-century.
Amal also observed the little explored far side of the moon just (15 kilometres by 12 kilometres by 12 kilometres). Phobos, the other moon of Mars, is almost double that size. It orbits much closer to the planet- just 6,000 kilometres away, the closest of any planets moon in the solar system.
The report said that Deimos' orbit around Mars stretched 23,000 kilometres out. Thats close to the inner part of the spacecrafts orbit which is what made observing Deimos such a compelling idea, Hessa al-Matroushi, the mission's lead scientist, said.
Al-Matroushi and other scientists with the UAE's space agency said the new photographs indicated that Deimos was not an asteroid that got captured in Mars orbit eons ago- which had been the leading theory until now.
The scientists, instead, said the moon appeared to be of Martian origin, the Associated Press reported on Monday.
Amal rocketed to Mars on July 19, 2020. Al-Matroushi said the spacecraft would continue to sweep past Deimos this year, but not as closely as it was on March 10.
Previously, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Viking 2 came within 30 kilometres of Deimos in 1977. But since then, other spacecraft photographed the moon but from a much farther distance.
(With inputs from agencies)
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 at 12:00 am