Phobos (mythology) of Cypselus on the shield of Agamemnon. American astronomer Asaph Hall named a satellite of the planet Mars, "Phobos", which he discovered along with the second Mars satellite, "Deimos", in 1877. Phobos is the larger of the two satellites. The word "phobia" derives from "phobos", (Φόβος), meaning fear. The two brothers Deimos and Phobos were particularly worshipped in the city state of "Sparta" as they were the sons of Ares, the god of war. Phobos in Greek literally means "fear" (). Spartan soldiers would idolize Phobos, because he symbolized discipline, and consistency of the armed forces. Because Phobos and Deimos
Exploration of Mars a focus on Phobos. Phobos 1 lost contact on the way to Mars. Phobos 2, while successfully photographing Mars and Phobos, failed before it was set to release two landers to the surface of Phobos. Roughly two-thirds of all spacecraft destined for Mars have failed without completing their missions, and it has a reputation as a difficult space exploration target. Missions that ended prematurely after Phobos 1 and 2 (1988) include (see Probing difficulties section for more details): Following the 1993 failure of the Mars Observer orbiter, the NASA Mars Global Surveyor achieved Mars orbit in 1997. This mission was