Labels: text | screenshot | machine OCR: MARS: GENERAL INFORMATION MARS'S SATELLITES @ But no truly hollow body exists in nature. So, perhaps Phobos was an artificial satellite, launched by Martians? Russian astrophysicist Joseph Shkovsky jokingly proposed this far-fetched hypothesis in 1960. The specialists then recalculated Phobos's orbit: it seems Sharpless may have overestimated the satellite's acceleration, but Phobos is indeed orbiting faster and faster around the Red Planet. The Mariner 9 space probe at last gave us a close-up look at Phobos. It is not hollow, but is an irregularly-shaped (non-spherical) asteroid, whose surface is pocked with craters. Thus Phobos's motion around Mars is perfectly in harmony with the mechanical laws of heavenly bodies. In fact, the acceleration is due to Mars itself. Because the Red Planet's shape is not perfectly spherical, it has an irregular gravitational field, which explains the motion of its satellite. And about 40 million years from now, Phobos will indeed crash to the surface of Mars. MARS BETAT
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