Phobos 2 Soviet Space Probe Mystery
Did a UFO Destroy the Phobos 2 Probe?
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PHOBOS: MALFUNCTION OR EARLY "STAR WARS" INCIDENT?
Phobos, one of the two moons of Mars, has itself always
been considered a rather mysterious object, as has its smaller twin,
Deimos. Joseph Shklovskii noted member of the Soviet Academy of
science and co-writer with Dr Carl Sagan of 'Intelligent life in
the unverse', once calculated from the estimated density of the
Martian atmosphere and the peculiar "acceleration" of
Phobos, that the satellite must be hollow. Could Phobos be a hollowed-out
space station of huge proportions?
In July 1988, the Russians launched two unmanned satellite
probes - Phobos 1 and phobos 2 - in the direction of Mars, and with
the primary intention of investigating the planet's mysterious moon,
Phobos. Phobos 1 was unfortunately lost en route two months later,
reportedly because of a radio command error. Phobos 2 was also ultimately
lost in the most intriguing circumstances, but not before it had
beamed back certain images and information from the planet Mars
itself.
Phobos 2 arrived safely at Mars in January 1989 and entered
into and orbit around Mars as the first step at its destination
towards its ultimate goal: to transfer to an orbit that the would
make it fly almost in tandem with the Martian moonlet called Phobos
(hence the spacecrafts name) and explore the moonlet with highly
sophisticated equipment that included two packages of instruments
to be placed on the moonlet's surface.
All went well until Phobos aligned itself with Phobos,
the Martian moonlet. Then, on 28th March, the Soviet mission control
centre acknowledged sudden communication "problems" with
the spacecraft; nd Tass the, the official Soviet news agency, reported
that "Phobos 2 had failed to communicate with Earth as scheduled
after completing an operation yesterday around the Martian moon
Phobos. Scientists at mission control have been unable to establish
stable radio contact."
What had caused the Phobos 2 spacecraft to be lost? The
answer came about three months later. Pressed by the international
participants in the Phobos mission to privide definitive data, the
Soviet authorities released a taped television transmission Phobos
2 sent in its last moments except for the last frames, taken just
seconds before the spacecraft fell silent. The television clip was
shown by some TV stations in Europe and Canada as part of weekly
'diary' programs, as a curiosity and not as a hot news item.
The television sequence thus released focused on two anomalies.
The first was a network of straight lines in the area of the Martian
equator; some of the lines were short, some were longer, some were
thin, some were wide enough to look like rectangular shapes 'embossed'
in the Martian surface. Arranged in rows parallel to each other,
the pattern covered an area of some six hundred square kilometers
(more than two hundred and thirty quare miles). The anomaly appeared
to be far from a natural phenomenon.
The television clip was accompanied by a live comment by
Dr. John Becklake of the London Science Museum.
He described the phenomenon as very puzzling, because
the pattern seen on the surface of Mars was photographed with the
spacecraft's optical camera but with its infrared camera- a camera
that takes pictures of objects using the heat that they radiate,
and not by the play of light and shadow on them. In other words,
the pattern of parallel lines and rectangles covering an area of
almost two hundred and fifty square miles was a source of heat radiation.
It is so highly unlikely that a natural source of heat radiation
(a geyser or a concentration of radioactive minerals under the surface,
for example) would create such a perfect geometric pattern. When
viewed over and over again, the pattern definitely looks artificial;
but as for what it was, the scientist said "I certainly don't
know."
According to Boris Bolitsky, science correspondent for
Radio Moscow, just before radio contact was lost with Phobos 2,
several unusual images were radioed back to Earth, described by
the Russian as "Quite remarkable features". A report taken
from New Scientist of 8 April 1989, described the following: "The
features are either on the Martian surface or in the lower atmosphere.
The features are between 20 and 25 kilometers wide and do not resemble
any known geological formation. They are spindle - shaped and proving
to be intriguing and puzzling."
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Since no coordinates for the precise location of this "anomalous
feature" have been released publicly, it is impossible to judge
its relationship to another puzzling feature on the surface of Mars
that can be seen in Mariner 9 frame 4209-75. It is also located
in the equatorial area (at longitude 186.4) and has been described
as "unusual indentations with radial arms protruding from a
central hub" , caused (according to NASA scientists) by the
melting and collapse of permafrost layers. The design of the features,
bringing to mind the structure of a modern airport with a circular
hub from which long structures housing the airplane gates radiate,
can be better visualized when the photograph is reversed (showing
depressions and protrusions).
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Maria Popovich, a highly decorated Soviet Test Pilot was
one of the first Soviets to personally come to the U.S. with the
Phobos 2 UFO Theory. She made some rounds at U.F.O. conventions
and had a few speaking engagements before disappearing from the
scene.
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A SHADOW ACROSS THE SURFACE OF MARS
An unusual photo of a thin shadow across mars was shown
on the Russian television segment. Seem on the surface of Mars was
a clearly defined dark shape that could indeed be described, as
it was in he initial dispatch from Moscow,, as a "thin ellipse"
(this photo is a still from the Soviet television clip). It was
certainly different from the shadow of Phobos recorded eighteen
years earlier by Mariner 9. The latter cast a shadow that was a
rounded ellipse and fuzzy at the edges, as would be cast by the
uneven surface of the moonlet. The 'anomaly' seen in the Phobos
2 transmission was a thin ellipse with very sharp rather than rounded
points (the shape is known in the diamond trade as a "marquise")
and the edges, rather than being fuzzy, stood out sharply against
a kind of halo on the Martian surface. Dr. Becklake described it
as "something that is between the spacecraft and Mars, because
we can see the Martian surface below it," and stressed that
the object was seen by both the optical and the infrared (heat seeking)
camera.
All these reasons explain why the Soviets have not suggested
that the dark, "thin ellipse" might have been a shadow
of the moonlet. While the image was held on the screen, Dr. Becklake
explained that it was taken as the spacecraft was aligning itself
with Phobos (the moonlet). "As the last picture was halfway
through," he said, "they [Soviets] saw something that
should not be there." The Soviets, he went on to state, have
not yet released this last picture, and we wont speculate on what
it shows.
So was it that collided or crashed into Phobos 2? Was the
space probe shot out of space for "seeing too much"? What
does the last secret frame show? In his careful words to 'Aviation
Week and Space Technology', the chairman of the Soviet equivalent
of NASA, referred to the last frame, saying, "One image appears
to include an odd-shaped object between the spacecraft and Mars."
This "highly secret" photo was later given to
the Western press by Colonel Dr. Marina Popovich, a Russian astronaut
and pilot who has long been interested in UFO's. At a UFO conference
in 1991, Popovich gave to certain investigators some interesting
information that she "smuggled" out of the now ex-Soviet
Union. Part of the information was what has been called "the
first ever leaked accounts of an alien mothership in the solar system".
The last transmission from Phobos 2 was a photograph of
a gigantic cylindrical spaceship - a huge, apporx, 20km long, 1.5km
diameter cigar-shaped 'mothership', that was photographed on 25
March 1989 hanging or parked next to the Martian moon Phobos by
the Soviet unmanned sonde Phobos 2. After that last frame was radio-transmitted
back to Earth, the probe mysteriously disappeared; according to
the Russians it was destroyed - possibly knocked out with an energy
pulse beam.
The cigar shaped craft in the penultimate frame taken by
Phobos 2 is apparently the object casting the oblong shadow on the
surface of Mars in the earlier photo.
Australian science writer Brian Crowley says that because
of the convex catseye shadow - which, because the overhead solar
inclination prevented shadow- casting by Martian surface features,
implies a shadow thrown on the surface from something in orbit -
beyond the orbit of Phobos 2 itself. The shadow - spindle- or cigar
shaped - is inconsistent with any possible shadow cast by the moon
Phobos, which is an irregular potato shape. One needs little imagination
to postulate a giant, hovering cigar- shaped mother craft similar
to those documented down the years by UFO investigators.
INFRARED PHOTOS OF AN UNDERGROUND CITY
This photo is a of the Hydroate Chaos Region and is believed
to show a city or other arifical sturctures
The same picture, released on Canadian TV, presents an
infrared scan radiometer image of the Martian surface that showed
clearly defined rectangular areas. These are interconnected with
a latticework of perfectly straight channels, much resembling a
city block. There were no corresponding surface features taken by
regular cameras. This suggests the heat signature of what may be
a set of underground cavern or channels that are just too geometrically
regular to be formed naturally. According to Dr. John Becklake of
the London Science Museum, "The city-like pattern is 60 kilometers
wide and could be easily be mistaken for an aerial view of Los Angeles."
The final picture taken by Phobos 2 before it was "shot
out of orbit" has never been publicly released. One report
indicated that it was presented at a closed meeting with US and
British officials.
In the 19 October 1989 issue of "Nature', Soviet scientists
published a series of technical reports on the experiments Phobos
2 did manage to conduct: of the thirty seven pages, a mere paragraph
deal with the spacecrafts loss. The report confirms that the spacecraft
was spinning, either because of a computer malfunction or because
Phobos 2 was "impacted" by an unknown object.
And so we see that it is not only NASA that is apparently
involved in suppressing photographs and knowledge of other planets,
but the Russian space program as well.
CHAIN CRATERS OF PHOBOS
In an interesting article in the January 1977 issue of
'Astronomy', entitled "Chain Craters of Phobos", the anonymous
author discusses the strange grooves and craters of Phobos:
"Viking has discovered another mystery in the most
unexpected place - one of the two small Martian moons. Mariner 9's
mapping of Phobos (12x14x17 miles or 20x23x28 kilometers) and Deimos
(6x7x10 miles, or 10x12x16 kilometers) showed many craters, and
left most investigators that they were merely rocky chunks that
bore the scars of meteorite impacts. There was a puzzling feature
on Phobos that a few analysts noticed but, without better data,
could say little about.
"A the limit of resolution were a few small crater
pits that seemed to align in one or two chains. This was unusual,
because crater chains on the moon were traditionally explained as
volcanic pits - small eruption sites string along fracture lines.
Yet Phobos apparently is too small to generate heat and conventional
volcanic activity.
"Vikings high resolution photos have revealed that
the crater chains are real and part of an extensive system of parallel
grooves, a few hundred yards wide (shown in Viking orbiter photo
number 39B84). There may be a tendency for the grooves to lie parallel
to the direction of the satellites orbital motion, although there
appears to be several swarms with somewhat different orientations.
Scientists are at a loss to explain them. Theories being discussed
include: grooves left by much smaller satellite debris also orbiting
Mars (though the grooves seem to follow contours of Phobos' surface
to closely for this to be tenable); fractures radiating from an
impact crater not yet recognised (perhaps on the side of Phobos
still poorly photographed); or fractures created in the body of
the Martian satellite when it was part of a hypothetical larger
body and that it spawned both Martian moons, perhaps during a catastrophic
impact."
In the latest effort to photograph Mars and its moons,
the NASA 'Mars Observer' was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force
Base in Florida in late 1992, on a 337 day voyage to Mars. The Mars
Observer initially was expected to arrive at Mars by 19 August 1993,
and enter a long, elliptical orbit over the poles. In mid November
1993 it was to begin its two year mapping of the surface of Mars.
Then suddenly, on 22nd August 1993, it was announced that NASA had
lost contact with the spacecraft.
Americans and the world mourned the loss of a valuable
scientific tool for understanding Mars. Taxpayers wondered if there
was a better way to spend their money than on expensive space probes
that didn't work. A dark shield was going up on new information
about Mars to the public at large...
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PROJECT INFORMATION:
(Phobos Information/Data from NASA -NSSDC)
Launch: 07 July 1988 (Phobos 1) and 21 July 1988 (Phobos
2)
Vehicle: Proton-K.
Mass: 2600 Kg (6220 Kg with orbital insertion hardware attached).
Power: Solar panels.
Phobos 1, and its companion spacecraft Phobos 2, were the
next-generation in the Venera-type planetary missions, succeeding
those last used during the Vega 1 and 2 missions to comet P/Halley.
The objectives of the Phobos missions were to:
Conduct studies of the interplanetary environment.
Perform observations of the Sun.
Characterize the plasma environment in the Martian vicinity.
Conduct surface and atmospheric studies of Mars.
Study the surface composition of the Martian satellite Phobos.
The main section of the spacecraft consisted of a pressurized toroidal
electronics section surrounding a modular cylindrical experiment
section. Below these were mounted four spherical tanks containing
hydrazine for attitude control and, after the main propulsion module
was to be jettisoned, orbit adjustment. A total of 28 thrusters
(twenty-four 50 N thrusters and four 10 N thrusters) were mounted
on the spherical tanks with additional thrusters mounted on the
spacecraft body and solar panels. Attitude was maintained through
the use of a three-axis control system with pointing maintained
with sun and star sensors.
Phobos 1 operated nominally until an expected communications
session on 2 September 1988 failed to occur. The failure of controllers
to regain contact with the spacecraft was traced to an error in
the software uploaded on 29/30 August which had deactivated the
attitude thrusters. This resulted in a loss of lock on the Sun,
resulting in the spacecraft orienting the solar arrays away from
the Sun, thus depleting the batteries.
Phobos 2 operated nominally throughout its cruise and Mars
orbital insertion phases, gathering data on the Sun, interplanetary
medium, Mars, and Phobos. Shortly before the final phase of the
mission, during which the spacecraft was to approach within 50 m
of Phobos' surface and release two landers, one a mobile 'hopper',
the other a stationary platform, contact with Phobos 2 was lost.
The mission ended when the spacecraft signal failed to be successfully
reacquired on 27 March 1989. The cause of the failure was determined
to be a malfunction of the on-board computer.
Here below are some of the few photos available on file.
These are purported to be the last of the photos take by the Pbobos
2 Probe before it's untimely demise.
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These photos have been color enhanced to
make them more interesting.
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A high resolution image of Phobos was taken by Mars Global Surveyor
from about 6,010 miles away. At this distance, the image resolution
is about 470 ft. per pixel. Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science
Systems
Phobos Low Res Spin
Similar
Link
Images
of Phobos from Mars Global Surveyor
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