Phobos dust rings
1994; Elsevier BV; Volume: 42; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/0032-0633(94)90049-3
ISSN1873-5088
Autores Tópico(s)Space Satellite Systems and Control
ResumoOrbital evolution of impact with irregular shapes from Phobos has been examined by numerical simulations,taking into account the gravity of the Sun, Mars and Phobos as well as the solar rediation pressure forces on them. In our simulations, a total of 300 particles with masses of 10−9, 10−8 and 10−7 g are ejected from Phobos in random directions with mass-dependent ejection velocities by impacts of meteoroids periodically during 5 years. The ejection velocities are estimated from the collision experiments in a laboratory by Nakamura and Fujiwara (Icarus92, 132, 1991). Considering the dilution processes through collisions with Mars and Phobos, the form of dust clouds surrounnding Phobos orbit has been deduced based on the computed locations of test particles scattered around Mars at a certain time. We have found that the particles within a narrow mass distribution (nearly 10(su−9 g) cloud make the dust rings, while other particles in the different mass region rapidly disappear. The number density of resulting ring particles is about 5 × 10−12 cm −3 and a total mass of such rings is roughly 105 g. A possibility to detect such ring particles by the planned dust detector on board of Mars mission (PLANET-B) of Japan in 1998 is briefly mentioned.
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