Japan's JAXA is preparing a mission called Martian Moon eXploration, which will send a rover to explore the Martian moon Phobos.
Thanks to powerful unmanned rovers, such as Curiosity, Perseverance and Zhurong, we have managed to discover many things about Mars that were previously unknown to us. However, there is still a great mystery surrounding the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. The two moons are small in size (27 and 15 kilometers in diameter respectively) and their irregular shapes have attracted the attention of scientists in recent years!
Scientists are interested in these moons because they want to uncover their origins and potentially gain more information about the history of Mars. For example, Phobos may hold secrets about the planet in the distant past.
See also: Does a mysterious rock from Africa generate electricity?
In order to gain more information about the Martian moon Phobos, the Japanese space agency JAXA is preparing a mission called Martian Moon eXploration. This ambitious undertaking will involve a rover that will travel to this moon and will be equipped with various instruments designed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). To achieve the exploration mission, DLR is actively working on various components for the rover, such as propulsion and two instruments that will allow for a 100-day exploration.
Building a rover to explore Phobos
Exploring a small moon like Phobos has its own unique challenges, not least because the gravity there is incredibly low. This is sometimes seen as an advantage. For example, when rovers are headed to Mars, they travel at very high speeds, and when they land they must slow down significantly and reach a safe speed for a landing on the surface. This is made more difficult by the fact that Mars' atmosphere is thin, but it is made somewhat easier by the fact that the planet is lower than Earth's. Similarly, flying a helicopter on Mars is possible in the thin atmosphere because the gravity is low.
Due to gravity issues, traveling to Phobos will be difficult. A rover for such an environment would need to be able to "grab" the ground to move around the surface.
See also: European Commission: Will present the space strategy in March
“With the MMX rover, we are breaking new ground in terms of technology, because never before has a wheeled exploration vehicle traveled to a small celestial body with only one thousandth of the Earth's gravitational pull,” explained Markus Grebenstein of the DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics — a member of the team working on the rover's structure.
Landing will also be difficult, as the team cannot predict in which direction the rover will land. “As the rover freefalls onto Phobos after separation from the spacecraft, it will perform several ‘somersaults’ during the landing, without sustaining damage, and will come to rest in an unpredictable position,” Grebenstein said. “From this position, it must autonomously take the appropriate position with the help of the system and deploy its solar panels.”
Exploration of the moons of Mars
To gain insight into the secrets of the Martian moon, MMX will be equipped with a radiometer and a spectrometer to analyze surface . The rover's investigations will cover details such as the temperature and the data will be compared with similar data from asteroids. With this powerful duo of instruments, researchers can unlock the mysteries of this mysterious satellite of Mars!
The overall goal is to learn how Phobos formed. Scientists want to answer questions like whether Phobos was an asteroid that wandered close to Mars and was pulled in by its gravity, or whether it was a piece of Mars that was blown up by a large impact millions of years ago.
The cameras will be vital for its navigation, but they will also provide the opportunity to take close-up images of the moon's surface for the first time.
See also: NASA: Nuclear rocket will reach Mars in 45 days
The material used to build MMX must be very durable, as Jupiter's moon Phobos has very low temperatures, no atmosphere, and low gravity makes the journey difficult. The rover "willtravel very carefully with just a few milliseconds per second to maintain contact with the ground with its special wheels," said Stefan Barthelmes from the DLR Institute of System Dynamics and Control.
The goal is for the MMX rover to launch in 2024, with the spacecraft entering orbit around Mars in 2025 and the rover landing on Phobos in 2027.
Exploring Mars and its moons has been a long-held dream of scientists, engineers, and the public. The mere thought of discovering new celestial worlds and uncovering unknown secrets is enough to excite anyone. For years, space agencies around the world have sought to explore Mars in order to learn more about our neighboring planet, and great strides have already been made!
Source: www.slashgear.com
