The UAE Space Agency's "Hope Probe" has captured the most detailed photo of Mars' moon Deimos, challenging the theory that it is a captured asteroid and instead pointing to a planetary origin. The observations were made using all three of the probe's science instruments and provide new insights into Deimos' makeup and structure. The Emirates Mars Mission is the first interplanetary exploration undertaken by an Arab nation.
The UAE's Hope probe has captured detailed images of the far side of the Martian moon Deimos, suggesting it may have formed from debris left over from an impact on Mars, rather than being a captured asteroid. The spacecraft's three science instruments observed Deimos during the encounter, with the probe's camera recording stunning views of the moon passing across the sunlit side of Mars far below. The flyby with Deimos was the closest any spacecraft has been to the moon since NASA's Viking 2 orbiter in the 1970s.
The UAE's Hope probe, which has been orbiting Mars for over two years, has revealed new insights about the planet's atmosphere and has now provided new clues about Mars' moon Deimos. Recent observations suggest that Deimos may have once been a part of Mars itself, rather than a captured asteroid as previously thought. The Hope probe's close flybys of Deimos revealed that its composition is similar to that of Mars, suggesting that it may have formed following a large impact on the planet that separated a chunk of it and catapulted it into orbit.
