News: The Mars Colour Camera(MCC) onboard ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission has captured the image of Phobos, the closest and biggest moon of Mars.
Facts:
- Phobos: It is the closest and biggest moon of Mars and is largely believed to be made up of carbonaceous chondrites.
- Significance: Phobos is nearing Mars at a rate of six feet every hundred years and at that rate, it will either crash into Mars in 50 million years or break up into a ring.
Additional Facts:
- Mars Orbiter Mission(MOM) or Mangalyaan: It is a space probe launched by the ISRO in 2013 and has been in the Martian orbit since 2014.
- Launcher: It was launched using a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket C25.
- Objectives:
- To explore Martian surface features, mineralogy, morphology and atmosphere using indigenous scientific instruments.
- To develop technologies required in planning, designing, management and operations of an interplanetary mission.
- Instruments: The Mars Orbiter has five scientific instruments – Lyman Alpha Photometer(LAP), Methane Sensor for Mars(MSM), Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser(MENCA), Mars Colour Camera(MCC) and Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer(TIS).
