Phobos is spiralling inward

[PB666]

I wonder if when humans attempt to land on Phobos, the whole moon just shatters when somebody puts the flag down.

Thats a feature, then you don't have to waste any energy to get back in orbit.

Well if indeed phobos is already starting to fall apart then rather shortly we can expect bolloids torn off the surface to start striking the moon causing all kind of unpredictable impactors.

BTW, mars poles shift down to almost flat, so placing colonies at the poles is not a defense. Colony placement would have to move from time to time. Colonizing Mars does not apoear to be wise.

Edited November 11, 2015 by PB666

[fredinno]

Once phobos will get through the roche limit, it will break apart. once it has broken apart, all those fragments will slowly drift apart (as they will be on slightly different orbits), creating a small asteroid belt around mars, until those fragments themselves impact mars's ground. Of course, if we ever build some colony on mars, it would be better to build nothing under Phobo's orbital path - as that's where the impacts will occur (unless we can find a way to stabilise phobos orbit before it's ripped apart by mars's gravity.)

Still, if we ever manage to create a huge colony on mars, it'll mean we'll have develloped some proper interplanetary mean of travel - so phobos would likely be heavily prospected for materials for things such as in orbit construction

Phobos is a lot bigger than the asteroid that killed the Dinosaurs. It's a ticking time bomb for mars, really. Imagine the crater that'd form on Mars if the thing manages to stay in one piece!

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This is assuming, of course, that we don't just intentionally crash Phobos before we even start, so it's out of the way and we can use Deimos as a tether for a space elevator.

Isn't Deimos slowly drifting away?

[pincushionman]

…Isn't Deimos slowly drifting away?

It won't if you tie it down. In fact, it's kind of the point.

[K^2]

What? Now Mars is going to get a ring too? This is a conspiracy by other planets against Earth. I say we keep launching crap into space until we have a ring of our own.

[peadar1987]

Phobos is a lot bigger than the asteroid that killed the Dinosaurs. It's a ticking time bomb for mars, really. Imagine the crater that'd form on Mars if the thing manages to stay in one piece!

It will hit at a far lower speed though, due to being in orbit, and due to Mars' smaller gravity well. And impact energy scales with the square of the speed. Hitting at a very shallow angle will reduce the effects as well.

Actually, a quick google, and it looks like the Chicxulub impactor and Phobos are roughly the same size.

[More Boosters]

What? Now Mars is going to get a ring too? This is a conspiracy by other planets against Earth. I say we keep launching crap into space until we have a ring of our own.

No, that will take forever! What we need to do is to get a more massive ring than Mars! De-orbit the moon!

[Steel]

Phobos is a lot bigger than the asteroid that killed the Dinosaurs. It's a ticking time bomb for mars, really. Imagine the crater that'd form on Mars if the thing manages to stay in one piece!

Luckily it wont get anywhere near the surface in anything like one piece.

[PB666]

What? Now Mars is going to get a ring too? This is a conspiracy by other planets against Earth. I say we keep launching crap into space until we have a ring of our own.

Nuke the moon!

Take a bunch of legos and launch them into Equitorial, bydef, GSO. You can even sort them according to color and have collored rings. That, of course, would not cause any problems with satellites :^). Better yet skim all the plastic fragments in the north pacific gyre, put them into GSO. Aliens from all over the galaxy will be impressed with ou solution to consumeristic household waste.

Edited November 11, 2015 by PB666