SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/03/04/nasa-spacecraft-steers-clear-of-martian-moon-phobos/
NASA's MAVEN spacecraft in orbit around Mars maneuvered out of the path of Phobos earlier this week after navigators predicted the spacecraft could run into the Martian moon in the near future, highlighting the challenge of tracking an international fleet of Mars probes set to double in size by 2021.
The MAVEN orbiter, in its third year studying the Martian atmosphere, performed a minor rocket burn Feb. 28 to change its speed by less than 1 mph (0.4 meters per second), NASA said, tweaking its trajectory enough to dodge a projected collision with Phobos a week later.
On its new path, MAVEN will miss the irregularly-shaped moon by around two-and-a-half minutes. The rocket burn was MAVEN's first collision avoidance maneuver to move out of the way of Phobos, NASA said.
Phobos is located around 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) above Mars, higher than the altitude of NASA's other operational orbiters — Mars Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. But MAVEN is positioned in an elliptical orbit, carrying it as high as 3,800 miles (about 6,100 kilometers) on each lap around the planet before skimming the Martian atmosphere at the orbit's lowest point.
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Monday March 06 2017, @07:34PM (1 child)
Space is humongously mindbogglingly huge emptiness... therefore the best orbit for MAVEN is the one where it could collide with the one rock which regularly passes by.
Reminds me of the old joke of not getting a camel rider license because the inspector chose the one road with a single palm tree.
(Score: 3, Funny) by zocalo on Monday March 06 2017, @07:44PM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 06 2017, @08:17PM (2 children)
Wait wrong moon! Hell, even wrong planet.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday March 06 2017, @08:49PM (1 child)
Not only that, Phobos is only a "moon" in the most technical sense (a body orbiting a planet). It's really arguable whether it qualifies for that moniker: is a random particle of space junk in orbit over Earth a "moon"? Is the ISS? Both of Mars' moons are so small, they really appear to be nothing more than captured asteroids. They're nowhere near large enough to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium (making them round), unlike Europa which is a full-fledged world, not only spherical but containing an atmosphere and a water-ice surface and quite possibly a liquid water ocean underneath, whereas Mars' moons are just rocks.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 06 2017, @09:19PM
Oh crap, here we go again. Let's start a Dwarf Moon category and railroad it through the IAU . . .
(Score: 1) by its_gonna_be_yuge! on Monday March 06 2017, @09:18PM (2 children)
Holden:
Phoebe? Lopez said they found everyone on Phoebe dead. Some toxic spill or something. Maybe this is what he was talking about.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday March 06 2017, @09:26PM (1 child)
I just started watching Expanse AND THAT'S THE WRONG OBJECT!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by its_gonna_be_yuge! on Monday March 06 2017, @10:13PM
Sure. But Phobos was destroyed during the Earth/Mars Ganymede scuffle.
So Phoebe will hae to do ;-)
(Score: 2) by draconx on Monday March 06 2017, @11:01PM (1 child)
Perhaps someone with a better understanding of orbital mechanics than I can explain what this means? How close is two-and-a-half minutes?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday March 06 2017, @11:20PM
Phobos' [wikipedia.org] orbital speed - 2.138 km/s.
I'd estimate the min distance between the two bodies would be in the order of a couple of 100 km or more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0