Scientists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and IKI RAS believe that on Deimos, a satellite of Mars, dense enough clouds of dusty plasma can appear, which makes landing on its surface dangerous for robots and humans. Their findings were published in the journal Plasma Physics Reports.
“By analogy with the Moon, in the case of Deimos, one can expect that the bulk of the dust particles will float in the near-surface layer. The formation of a dusty plasma here is associated with the charging of dust particles, their interaction with the charged surface of Deimos, the subsequent rise and movement of charged dust,”explained one of the authors of the article, Sergei Popel.
Images of Deimos and Phobos, the second moon of Mars, show that their surfaces are covered with a thin layer of dust - crushed remnants of micrometeorites and small asteroids. This mixture can easily become electrified by interacting with the solar wind plasma.
She begins to push off the surface, hovering at a low height. This can be seen in photographs of "lunar sunsets" (a luminous veil on the moon's horizon), which accuses NASA of the Apollo program as a fake.
Hidden threat
The attraction of Deimos and Phobos, as Popel notes, is even less than that of the Moon, due to which this dust will easily detach from the surface with the slightest disturbance and minimal application of force. Therefore, any attempt to land on the satellites of Mars will lead to the appearance of a thick cloud of dust with unpredictable consequences.
“We described the properties of dusty plasma in the near-surface layer above the illuminated part of Deimos, calculated the electric fields and parameters of photoelectrons. They studied how solar radiation and the photoeffect affect the interaction of dust with a charged surface, determined the distribution of dust particles on the surface of the satellite of Mars,”the scientist continues.
Promotional video:
These calculations showed that even the softest landing on the surface of Deimos will not only generate a cloud of dust, but turn it into a charged accumulation of plasma that can cause malfunctions in the electronic filling of robots and in the operation of their solar batteries.
In addition, due to the small force of gravity on the surface of the satellites, this dust will also contain relatively large particles with dimensions of several micrometers. Their getting into a spacesuit and into the habitable modules of the Martian bases will become extremely dangerous for colonists and travelers, scientists conclude.
Popel and his colleagues have many questions: how the bowels of the satellites are arranged, how their matter interacts with cosmic rays and the solar wind, and what dangers will await travelers, as well as the Phobos-Grunt-2 apparatus and other descent modules.
Cursed Phobos
Two small irregular satellites revolve around Mars - Phobos and Deimos with a diameter of 22 and 12 kilometers, only ten thousand and 23 thousand kilometers away from the surface of the Red Planet. Many scientists believe that these are not planets, but asteroids captured by the gravity of Mars in the distant past.
Due to a series of unsuccessful encounters and landings of Soviet and Russian probes with Phobos, Deimos and Mars, both satellites acquired the status of "damned worlds". Despite this, many engineers and astronomers view them as ideal sites for building bases for future explorers or colonizers of Mars.
