Where Getting There is Half the Fun!

“Syrtis Base, Mars Explorer II here. We are on final approach to Stickney Crater. Request permission for landing.”

“Roger that, ME-II. Your approach is good. You are cleared for landing.”

Someday a bright bunch of folks who are maybe only in first grade or middle school right now are going to be coming in for final approach to Phobos, one of the two moons of Mars. They’ll be explorers, armed with scientific equipment and a sense of adventure, ready to stick themselves on this little world and figure out why looks the way it does.

When they get there, this might very well be the scene that confronts them. It’s Stickney Crater, a honkin’ big scar on the surface of this little moon. Stickney has its own craters inside, and the whole moon is scarred by some mysterious grooves that planetary scientists haven’t quite figured out yet.

Something happened to this little world, either when it first formed (maybe as a knock-off from Mars or as part of the asteroid belt), or later on when Mars and the other inner planets were bombarded by interplanetary debris. Either way, it’s gotten pretty beat up over the eons since it was first born.

While we may not be able to go to Photos ourselves just yet, we can explore it in high-resolution images released by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRise camera. They’ve just released a series of high-resolution images that you can download and enlarge on your computer screen. See for yourself the cratered, grooved surface of the Mars moon our children or grandchildren may someday explore!