Phobos (moon)

Orbits of Phobos and Deimos (to scale), as seen from above Mars

Phobos (or Mars I) is one of Mars' moons. The other is Deimos.

Phobos is the larger of the two moons, and is only 27 kilometers in diameter. This is about as far as a car can travel on the highway in 15 minutes. It is covered with craters, as Earth's moon is.

It is named after the god Phobos in Greek mythology. Its name means "fear".

Phobos is trapped in tidal drag, with its orbit lowering roughly 1.8 meters per century. In about 50 million years, Phobos will reach the Roche limit, where it is likely to be torn apart. Some fragments will fall on Mars and some will form a planetary ring or rings around Mars.

The other moon, Deimos, is the smaller of the two.

Spacecraft

The Soviet Union sent at least two space craft to this moon, Phobos 1 and Phobos 2. Both failed or lost contact with Earth, but Phobos 2 managed to take some pictures of the moon in 1989 before dying.

Features

There is one large crater on Phobos called Stickney. It is $1/3$ the size of the moon itself.