Relevance of Phobos in-situ science for understanding asteroids

Kurzfassung

The origin of the martian moons, Phobos and Deimos is under debate since a very long time. There exist arguments and counter arguments that they may be captured asteroids. Other models favor, e.g., a massive impact at Mars as their origin [1]. The Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, is going to explore both Martian moons remotely, but also return samples from Phobos, and deliver a small Rover to its surface [2,3]. This rover, provided by CNES and DLR, with contributions from INTA and the University of Tokyo has a payload of four scientific instruments, analyzing the physical, dynamical and mineralogical properties of Phobos´ surface. Parallels to asteroids of a similar size are eminent and the results will help deciphering the origin of Phobos [4].