Mars – rises as expected in the east but slowly. Despite the 30-hour orbit of Deimos, 2.7 days elapse between its rise and set for an equatorial observer, as it slowly falls behind the rotation of Mars. Because the orbit of Phobos is below synchronous altitude, the tidal forces from the planet Mars are gradually lowering its orbit. In about 50 million years, it could either crash into Mars's surface or break up into a ring structure around the planet. The origin of the two moons is not well understood. Their low albedo and carbonaceous chondrite composition have been regarded as
Phobos monolith astronaut Buzz Aldrin has spoken about the Phobos monolith and his support for a mission to Phobos. The object appears in Mars Global Surveyor images SPS252603 and SPS255103, dated 1998. The object is unrelated to another monolith located on the surface of Mars, which NASA noted as an example of a common surface feature in that region. Phobos monolith The Phobos monolith is a large rock on the surface of Mars's moon Phobos. It is a boulder about across and tall. A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive piece of rock. Monoliths also occur naturally on