OFFICIAL SITE OF THE THE PHOBOS EXPEDITION
ABOUT THE DESTINATION
See what opportunities Phobos has to offer...
WHAT DOES PHOBOS LOOK LIKE?
Year 2309
Phobos is one out of two of Mars' moons, with the other moon being Deimos. However, since Deimos is much smaller and further away from Mars than Phobos, this would make Phobos a more ideal destination. Phobo's diameter is 17 by 22 by 18 km, while its radius is around 11.267 km, making it a fairly small moon. Phobos is shaped irregularly since its gravitational pull is too weak to keep the moon a perfect sphere. Phobos also has no atmosphere, therefore allowing it to be covered in craters. However, Phobos is one of the darkest and least reflective moons in the Solar System and it is dark grey, brown, and red in colour, giving it a colourful landscape. Phobos is made out of the same material as asteroids and dwarf planets with a reservoir of ice inside of it. Coming to visit Phobos would be a decision that you will not regret. Phobos is one of the only moons in the solar system where you get to see Mars up close without actually going to it. You would also be able to easily jump 10 meters in the air, and you can watch Mars rise and set over and over again during your visit.
HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO GET TO PHOBOS?
Year 2309
Since Phobos is around 77.79 million kilometers away from Earth, it would take around 16 months, in other words, a year and 4 months to travel to Phobos and back. However, if you are planning to go to Phobos and never come back, or if you are planning to stay for a couple of months on Phobos then come back, that journey would currently take around 8 months. With future technology, passengers will be able to travel in a high-tech spacecraft that travels at the speed of light. This means the journey time to Phobos might shorten down to 8.65 minutes there and back, and 4.325 minutes for one way travel, so mark your calendars for 2039!
INTERACT WITH YOUR DESTINATION
Click (or touch) and drag to interact with this 3D model of Phobos.
SHORT, MEDIUM, OR LONG JOURNEY?
Market Research
In order to figure out what distance journey people preferred if they have the opportunity to travel to space, some market research was gathered. The options were:
Short journey: travelling into orbit for a vacation in microgravity on a space station orbiting Earth like the International Space Station.
Medium journey: traveling to a planet in the solar system that is visible in the night sky.
Long journey: traveling into deep space to a distant star system that is visible in the night sky.
Most people that responded to the poll posted on social media preferred to travel a medium distance journey, which is the distance that traveling to Phobos would fall into.
EXTRA INFORMATION
DANGERS
PHYSICAL CHALLENGES
Year 2309
Since travelling to Phobos is a fairly long journey with current technology (from 2019) in place, there are chances that the spacecraft could breakdown. However, with future technology and more advanced spacecraft, the chances of that happening are very minimal. Also, since Phobos orbits quickly around mars (once every 7 hours), it might take a long time for spacecraft to land accurately on the moon. Phobos is also small and has no atmosphere, which means that lots of oxygen would need to be prepared in advance for everyone landing on Phobos.
There is also an extremely small chance that Phobos might crash into Mars since its orbit is nearing Mars 1.8 meters every hundred years and will crash into Mars in 100 million years.
Year 2309
If you decide to travel to Phobos, you might experience motion sickness, since Phobos travels quickly while it is orbiting around Mars. Therefore you should be prepared by eating a light meal before landing on Phobos. However, vomit bags will be provided in your space suit. Also, your weight on Phobos will be lighter than the Earth because Phobos doesn’t have a gravitational pull. This means that you will experience a form of weightlessness like you have never experienced before. Phobos is also very cold since its temperature range varies from -4 to -112 degrees Celsius. However, this would not be a problem since you will be in a spacesuit. It would be hard to walk on Phobos and it will feel like you are floating because Phobos’ gravity is 1721 times weaker than Earth. Therefore you will be the same weight on Phobos as a tennis ball on Earth!
HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?
HOW MUCH HAVE CANADIAN SCIENTISTS CONTRIBUTED TO PHOBOS?
Year 2309
With technology in the future, the journey to Phobos per person will cost around 175 million dollars, but that’s considering the amount of fuel it takes to get there, the experience itself, the time it takes to get there, and many other factors. However, don't let the cost discourage you from going. Even though it would only cost around 150 million dollars to get to the Moon, note that the Moon is fairly close to Earth (just beyond its atmosphere and in its orbit) and therefore won’t be as exciting as traveling to Phobos. For other distant planets such as the outer ring planets like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, etc., those planets are extremely far from Earth and would probably cost twice or three times as much as the cost to travel to Phobos. The experience of actually landing and exploring on Phobos would definitely be worth the price to pay.
Year 2309
In 2007, the CSA’s proposal of the study of a Canadian-led mission to Phobos has been selected by scientists. The study was mainly focusing on studying and landing on Phobos. Canada has also been part of a “PRIME” mission, which includes Optech lidar remote sensing technology that would be adapted to map the surface of Phobos and help guide the spacecraft to a specified landing site. The PRIME study is led by Dr. Lee of the Mars Institute and Dr. Hildebrand from the University of Calgary. Scientists on the PRIME team are interested in such boulders as they might represent unique opportunities to examine actual samples of Phobos’s bedrock up close.
HISTORY
How old is Phobos? Phobos is around 4.503 billion years old.
How did Phobos get its name? Phobos was named after the son of Ares, which is the Greek counterpart of the Roman god, Mars. Phobos, which means fear and panic is the brother of Deimos, which is another one of Mars' moons.
HISTORY (2)
Discovery: Phobos was discovered on August 17th, 1877 by Asaph Hall, 6 days after the discovery of Deimos.
How was Phobos created? One theory suggests that Phobos was created from the asteroid belt, where Jupiter’s gravity was so strong it knocked the 2 moons, Phobos and Deimos out of the asteroid belt and into Mars’ gravitational pull and into its orbit. However, the most common theory is that Phobos was created when an object collided into Mars’ surface to shake up enough material to create its 2 moons, which supports the idea that both moons have circular orbits around the equator of Mars.
History and Methods that humans studied the planet: At first, people thought that Mars didn’t have many moons, but after Hall’s discovery, they found that Mars had 2 moons, Phobos and Deimos, that travel extremely close to Mars and completed an orbit in 7 hours. In 1971, the Mariner 9 spacecraft revealed that the moons were potato-shaped, and were only a couple of kilometers in diameter. Phobos landmarks were named after individuals involved with its discovery (Hall and Stickney). In 1976 and 1977, 2 Viking Orbiters flew 100 to 300 kilometers of the surfaces of the moon and eventually, one orbiter flew less than 30 kilometers away from Phobos. The orbiters were used to take pictures of the moon's surface and the size of its craters, even though back then it was low resolution. Scientists have also used spectral analysis to study Phobos and its origin. Currently, NASA is planning a human mission to a near-Earth asteroid that resembles Phobos to learn more about the moons of Mars, but there is still lots to learn and discover about Phobos to this day.
HORIZON DIAGRAM OF PHOBOS
To find Phobos, look south-west and look 60 degrees above the horizon. Find Mars (the red planet) and there will be 2 moons orbiting the planet. Phobos is the bigger moon out of the 2 and it should be right beside Mars.
