China’s Tianwen-1 probe just transmitted high-resolution images of Phobos, a natural Martian satellite, thus marking the 2-year anniversary of the mission launch. Mars has two small natural satellites, Phobos and Deimos, with the former being the innermost. This potato-shaped object has a mean radius of 11 km and it orbits 6,000 km from the Martian surface in a near circular trajectory.
The streaks that you see on the upper left of its surface may have been formed through meteor impacts, while the upper right section has the 2km Öpik crater, named after the Estonian astronomer and astrophysicist. It completes an orbit in just 7 hours, 39 minutes and from the surface of Mars, Photobs appears to rise in the west while setting in the east, twice each Martian day. NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has definitely seen Phobos quite a few times to say the least.
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