ESA Science & Technology - Publication Archive
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Abstract No. 1832
As a complement to Mars observations, Phobos spectral imaging was implemented in order to acquired compositional mapping with the prime objective to answer to the following questions:
- Is Phobos a "primitive" (undifferentiated) body, or is its mass sufficient for this small body to have suffered some degree of internal differentiation, so as to exhibit surface compositional variations reflecting variation with depth?
- Can one detect surface material containing either volatile or organic compounds ?
Abstract No. 2195
Of the many previous hypotheses concerning the origin of Phobos' grooves, most authorities agree that their formation is in some way connected with the creation of Stickney crater, at nearly 10 km diameter the largest crater on Phobos [1,2,3]. The principal argument for the Stickney association has been that the grooves form a pattern that is approximately radial to Stickney [1,2]. However, such hypotheses were based on incomplete mapping of the satellite, the largest poorly-imaged area being adjacent to Stickney's western rim. Much of the unknown region has now been imaged by HRSC, and we have assembled a new groove map from this and all other available imagery. The impression of grooves radial to Stickney can be seen to be an artefact of the previous coverage. East of Stickney this idea can be sustained, but west of it the pattern is tangential to the crater. The satellite-wide groove pattern can be seen to be centred not at Stickney, but at the leading apex of Phobos in its orbit (i.e. 90° long., 0° lat.). Groove orientations are quite independent of Stickney and bear no relation to it.
Contents:
Foreword | |
Overview | |
Mars Express: Summary of Scientific Results A. Chicarro, O.G. Witasse & A.P. Rossi | 1 |
Scientific Instruments | |
HRSC: High Resolution Stereo Camera G. Neukum, R. Jaumann and the Co-Investigator Team | 15 |
OMEGA: Observatoire pour la Minéralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces et l'Activité J.-P. Bibring, Y. Langevin, F. Altieri et al. | 75 |
MARSIS: Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding J.J. Plaut, G. Picardi, T.W. Watters et al. | 97 |
PFS: Planetary Fourier Spectrometer V. Formisano, F. Angrilli, G. Arnold et al. | 115 |
SPICAM: Spectroscopy for the Investigation of the Characteristics of the Atmospheric of Mars J.-L. Bertaux, O. Korablev, D. Fonteyn et al. | 139 |
ASPERA-3: Analyser of Space Plasmas and Energetic Neutral Atoms R. Lundin, S. Barabash and the ASPERA-3 team | 199 |
MaRS: Mars Express Radio Science Experiment M. Pätzold, S. Tellmann, T. Andert et al. | 217 |
Operations and Archiving | |
Mars Express Science Planning and Operations R. Pischel & T. Zegers | 249 |
Spacecraft and Payload Data Handling J. Zender, F. Delhaise, C. Arviset et al. | 257 |
Acronyms and Abbreviations | 279 |