Exploring Mars is such a great idea! Who knows what our neighboring planet could be hiding. We don’t have to think only about extraterrestrial beings ready to give us the answers to the most profound questions about the Universe. Astronomers explore the possibilities of building a base on Mars in the future.
NASA’s Perseverance rover has been exploring the surface of the Red Planet for quite a while. It was launched in July 2020, and a key objective of the mission is represented by astrobiology. More precisely, the rover seeks traces of ancient microbial life present on Mars.
The Deimos moon enters the cosmic scene
NASA revealed new footage captured by its Perseverance rover. The little shiny object that appears as seen from the surface of Mars is Deimos, one of the two moons of our neighboring planet.
Sky watching is fun no matter where you are. I took this short time lapse movie to watch for clouds, and caught something else: look closely and you’ll see Deimos, one of two moons of Mars.
More on this tiny moon: https://t.co/TzHMc0aIS3 pic.twitter.com/akfbhfsw33
— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) August 20, 2021
Paradoxically enough, although Mars is smaller than Earth, it has more moons than our planet. Our natural satellite was simply named “the Moon”, while Mars’ moons are Deimos and Phobos.
Measuring a radius of only 6.2 km, Deimos doesn’t actually feature a spherical shape. The object orbits the Red Planet in 30.3 hours. Deimos is also located 23,460 km away from Mars, meaning much further than Phobos.
It’s only a matter of time until NASA will start its Artemis mission to return humans to our Moon after over half a century. There are some problems with the development of the necessary spacesuit, although they should be solved sooner or later. Otherwise, if everything will go as planned regarding Artemis, landing on Mars will become the next major goal of NASA.
Humanity will indeed go to the Red Planet sooner or later, but the problem is what it will do afterward.
