Japan's Space Agency May Retrieve the First Samples From Mars - Sort of (cnet.com) 19
"Another space agency, about one-tenth the size of NASA, is thinking outside of the planet-sized box in its search for Martian life," reports CNET:
With its Martian Moons Exploration mission (or MMX), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, later this decade will touch down on a world no spacecraft has visited before: Phobos, one of Mars' mystifying moons. Scientists at JAXA, and other astronomers, hypothesize that on this curious moon they may find signs of ancient microbes that were catapulted off the surface of Mars and flung across the cosmos. The remains of these unwitting spacefaring organisms have been untouched for millions of years and, soon, could be plucked from Phobos' face and returned to Earth.
When an asteroid collides with a planet, the planet unleashes a mighty sneeze of dust and rock. The faster the asteroid smashes into the surface, the bigger the sneeze... [I]f the asteroid impact is powerful enough, the sneeze will fling dust and rock into space... Just like a human sneeze contains microbes, the material ejected by a planet may also contain microscopic life — or the remnants of it. If the asteroid death blast doesn't melt the rock and the microbes to mere atoms, there's a chance they can float into the cosmos... Mars is scarred by impacts from drifter asteroids that slammed into the surface over the planet's life. If these impacts were to hit in just the right spot, at just the right angle and just the right time, there's a chance the ejected material would make it to Phobos, Mars' curious, potato-shaped moon. Phobos has the closest orbit of any known moon to its parent body, circling the red planet at a distance of just 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles), about the same as the distance between Tokyo and Honolulu....
Phobos is practically hugging Mars, and moves around the planet so quickly that if you were to observe it from the surface, you'd be able to see it rise and set twice every Martian day. Its proximity to the red planet has led JAXA scientists and engineers to speculate about the potential for finding the remnants of Martian microbes on the moon's surface. "If Martian life once existed and was widespread elsewhere on Mars, the chance that its dead remains exist also on Phobos is, in my opinion, relatively high," says Ryuki Hyodo, a planetary scientist at JAXA's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science... It's possible, JAXA believes, that Phobos could be a satellite cemetery, unwittingly holding molecular evidence of long-dead microorganisms....
With a planned sample return date of 2029, MMX would be the first time samples have been returned from the Martian sphere. While the space agency estimates just 0.1% of Phobos' soil likely originated on Mars, there's a chance MMX could bring back the first samples of the red planet to Earth.
When an asteroid collides with a planet, the planet unleashes a mighty sneeze of dust and rock. The faster the asteroid smashes into the surface, the bigger the sneeze... [I]f the asteroid impact is powerful enough, the sneeze will fling dust and rock into space... Just like a human sneeze contains microbes, the material ejected by a planet may also contain microscopic life — or the remnants of it. If the asteroid death blast doesn't melt the rock and the microbes to mere atoms, there's a chance they can float into the cosmos... Mars is scarred by impacts from drifter asteroids that slammed into the surface over the planet's life. If these impacts were to hit in just the right spot, at just the right angle and just the right time, there's a chance the ejected material would make it to Phobos, Mars' curious, potato-shaped moon. Phobos has the closest orbit of any known moon to its parent body, circling the red planet at a distance of just 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles), about the same as the distance between Tokyo and Honolulu....
Phobos is practically hugging Mars, and moves around the planet so quickly that if you were to observe it from the surface, you'd be able to see it rise and set twice every Martian day. Its proximity to the red planet has led JAXA scientists and engineers to speculate about the potential for finding the remnants of Martian microbes on the moon's surface. "If Martian life once existed and was widespread elsewhere on Mars, the chance that its dead remains exist also on Phobos is, in my opinion, relatively high," says Ryuki Hyodo, a planetary scientist at JAXA's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science... It's possible, JAXA believes, that Phobos could be a satellite cemetery, unwittingly holding molecular evidence of long-dead microorganisms....
With a planned sample return date of 2029, MMX would be the first time samples have been returned from the Martian sphere. While the space agency estimates just 0.1% of Phobos' soil likely originated on Mars, there's a chance MMX could bring back the first samples of the red planet to Earth.
Well... (Score:5, Informative)
A sample will tell us if, indeed, Phobos is a blasted-off chunk of Mars. If it is, it'll confirm the orbital calculations for a non-uniform gravitational field, which is very helpful. If it isn't, it'll lead to a more detailed mapping of Mars' gravitational field, which in turn will inform us of the sort of anomalies we want to know about.
So it's a win either way. Confirmed science or new science.
Re: (Score:2)
The TFS statement that "the space agency estimates just 0.1% of Phobos' soil likely originated on Mars" is possibly referring to just relatively recent material lifted from near the surface since the leading theory for the origin of Phobos is that it condensed from matter blasted into orbit by a major early impactor [science.org]. That would really be twofer - samples of Martian average outer mantle composition (from its original formation) plus stuff from the surface more recently.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, dead, sure (Score:4, Funny)
Just don't forget to pack a BFG for insurance.
Re:Yeah, dead, sure (Score:4, Informative)
There's no BFG nor plasma on Phobos (E1); E2 is on Deimos, E3 in hell.
Total Recall! (Score:2)
Either way, "get your ass to Mars." :P
Bring back something interesting (Score:3)
Save Phobos! (Score:5, Interesting)
Phobos' orbit is slowly decaying, and it is doomed to crash into Mars in the next 50-100m years.
We ought to put an ion thruster on the ass end of it and give it a push out until it's in an orbit that is potentially stable for billions of years.
At the very least, it'd be a great test of a potential asteroid deflection technology.
I'm totally with you! (Score:2)
It's on the TODO list, just below "invent interstellar travel so we don't have to care about the Solar system". ;)
Re:Save Phobos! (Score:4, Interesting)
Randall Monroe has a better idea: use it to generate power!
In his book How To, he describes a scheme whereby you could harness the potential energy of Phobos to generate power for people living on the planet. It could produce orders of magnitude more power than, say, solar, wind, or nuclear. It'd work great for a while, at least until the moon came crashing down into the planet from the loss of energy.
I saw this movie (Score:1)
It ends with everyone on Earth dying from an alien infection.
I have Phobos phobia, (Score:2)
so please don't go there.
Re: (Score:2)
Just don't breach the Hell Gate there. (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
While we do have a Space Force, we have no Space Marines, yet.
no Space Rangers either... To infinity and beyond!
Just Add Water to the little seeds... (Score:2)
...to get instant Martians that look like fat green birds. See: Bugs Bunny cartoon on Saturday morning.
Relatively high probability (Score:3)
" "If Martian life once existed and was widespread elsewhere on Mars, the chance that its dead remains exist also on Phobos is, in my opinion, relatively high," says Ryuki Hyodo, a planetary scientist at JAXA's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science"
"Relatively high" probability, as compared to 0.00% chance. There are a WHOLE LOT of "ifs" and "chances" there.
How much worse (Score:2)
FIRST samples? (Score:2)
There is, I suppose, if you consider a probability of zero (the integer, not closely similar real numbers) to be "a chance".
The first known sample of Mars to land on Earth was at Chassigny, Haute-Marne, France in 1815 [wikipedia.org], causing little disturbance to the Year Without a Summer and the conclusion of the Napoleonic wars.
The second known sample of Mars to land on Earth was at Sherghati, India in 1865 [wikipedia.org].
The third known sample of