Phobos And Deimos & Mars Environment Deimos by studying: In addition, PADME would assess potential resources (water, organics, regolith) and potential hazards (dust) that Phobos and Deimos might present for future human exploration in Mars orbit. Once in Mars orbit, PADME would carry out 16 flybys of Phobos followed by 9 flybys of Deimos. Flybys would take place at two-week intervals. Flyby altitudes at closest approach to Phobos and Deimos would be ~2 km. Following completion of its primary mission, PADME could remain in high Mars orbit for long-term monitoring of the martian system and search for potential additional moonlets around Mars. Alternatively, PADME could be
Moons of Mars its 30-hour orbit, it takes 2.7 days to set in the west as it slowly falls behind the rotation of Mars. Both moons are tidally locked, always presenting the same face towards Mars. Since Phobos orbits Mars faster than the planet itself rotates, tidal forces are slowly but steadily decreasing its orbital radius. At some point in the future, when it approaches Mars closely enough (see Roche limit), Phobos will be broken up by these tidal forces. Several strings of craters on the Martian surface, inclined further from the equator the older they are, suggest that there may have been