Enigmatic Phobos in High-Resolution

Mars moon emerges from the dark




The ESA's best-yet image of Mars' largest moonlet.


"Scientists hope to explain the origin of a network of grooves that extend from the equator to the north pole."

I've proposed that the strange grooves that riddle Phobos' surface may be the work of intelligence -- specifically, the relics of mass-launchers once used to steer Phobos through space.

Before the grooves were detected, the Martian moons' unusual orbits suggested they may be chambered or hollow. Even Carl Sagan entertained the possibility that Mars' moons were artificial bodies of some sort before early photos showed them to be rocky and irregular. But "irregular" doesn't mean the moons are necessarily natural. Perhaps, like the asteroidal habitats conceived by Gerard K. O'Neill, Phobos possesses an artificially modified interior.




Phobos: Space-rock or extraterrestrial artifact?


Surface anomalies such as the "cones" and "Monolith" formation discovered by Efrain Palermo argue that Phobos' origin and formation may not be completely understandable in naturally derived models.