UPSC Current Affairs – August 25, 2023
The Mangalyaan Mission (also known as Mars Orbiter Mission) of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has captured the image of Phobos (the largest Moon or Natural Satellite of Mars) on 1st July 2020. The image was shared by ISRO on 3rd July 2020.
The image of Phobos was captured from a distance of 4200 kilometres by the Mars Orbiter Mission on 1st July. At that time, the Mars Orbiter Mission was at a distance of 7200 kilometres from Mars. ISRO has further stated that 210 metres is the spatial resolution of the captured image.
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Stickney Crater
Stickney Crater is the largest crater on the Phobos. In the image captured by Mars Orbiter Mission, Stickney Crater is visible along with Roche, Shklovsky and Grildrig craters of Phobos.
Mars Orbiter Mission
The Mangalyaan mission was launched on 5th November 2013 from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre located in Andhra Pradesh’s barrier island Sriharikota.
The mission was launched by the Rocket PSLV-C25. It entered the orbit of Mars successfully in the first attempt on 24th September 2014.
Natural Satellites of Mars
Phobos and Deimos are the two natural satellites of Mars. Both the moons of Mars were discovered by Asaph Hall in the year 1877. Phobos is seven times larger than Deimos.
Phobos orbits at around 6,000 Km from the surface of the Mars, while Deimos orbits at around 23,460 Km from the Mars. Therefore, Phobos is referred to as the Innermost Natural Satellite of Mars whereas Deimos is the outermost.