Hope has sent amazing photos of Mars’ smallest satellite

The Hope spacecraft has returned to Earth the sharpest images ever of Deimos, Mars’ smallest satellite.

Hope was launched on July 20, 2020, from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan, as part of the UAE’s first interplanetary mission, the first by a country in the Arab world.

The images were taken from a distance of about 110 kilometers from Deimos, one of the two moons of the Red Planet (Phobos is the largest of the two moons).

It is the first time since the Viking mission to Mars (1977) that a spacecraft has approached Deimos, officials of the Emirates Exploration of Mars (EMM) said today during the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) in Vienna.

The Emirati Hope Probe, which was launched as part of the Emirates Mars Exploration Mission, captured the clearest image ever of the Martian moon Deimos. pic.twitter.com/vSVJTrzOCf

– Pakistani Startup Company (PakStartup) April 24, 2023

With the EXI camera providing high-resolution color images, Hope has revealed the “dark side” of Mars’ smallest satellite. Deimos is about 23,000 kilometers from the Red Planet and scientists are still not sure where it came from.

“We are not sure of the origin of either Fear or Deimos,” noted EMM Mission Director Hessa Al Matroushi. According to the most widespread theory, “these are asteroids captured in the orbit of the Red Planet.”

Data from the Hope probe points to a planetary origin. The spacecraft made flights within 100 km of the surface of Deimos and studied its composition (2/2) pic.twitter.com/7B5utz2fAD

– Tharwat Nasir (@SarwatNasir) April 24, 2023

Hope’s observations reinforce an entirely different theory of the origin of Deimos

However, Hope’s observations reinforce an entirely different theory: Deimos was born from the bowels of Mars. The rock is said to have been part of the Red Planet, broken off by a violent impact, and later captured in the orbit of Mars.

Commenting on Deimos’ photos on Twitter, the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, wrote in his message that the satellite is part of the planet Mars, “separated from it millions of years ago.”

In a new global precedent … the Emirates Mars Exploration Project, the “Probe of Hope”, approaches 100 km from the Martian moon “Deimos” .. and captures the clearest picture obtained by humans of this moon …

Theories tell us that this moon is an outer asteroid that was captured within the orbit of Mars.. and the Hope Probe refutes this theory… pic.twitter.com/JDOy1fpn6B

– His Highness Sheikh Mohammed (HHShkMohd) April 24, 2023

The UAE space agency, which decided to extend the mission for another year, said the Hope spacecraft will continue to monitor Deimos throughout 2023 to collect more data.

The richest Gulf country also aspires to send an unmanned robotic vehicle to the moon in 2024.

Source: APE-MEB