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Phobos Surveyor is a mission concept under preliminary study by Marco Pavone of Stanford University, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a part of NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts program. The concept consists of an orbiter around Mars's moon Phobos, designed to take measurements of the surface such as chemical composition〔 and deploy small, sea-urchin-shaped rovers〔 to the surface. These rovers would perform more detailed analysis of the moon's microscopic geological features and other properties, beaming their information back to the orbiter, which in turn would send the information to Earth.〔 The mission could be a ''Discovery''-class mission, and could be beneficial to the future manned space program by investigating the low-gravity Phobos's suitability for a manned base before the construction of one on Mars itself 〔 and where on the moon landing sites for manned missions should be.〔 Although designed with "Phobos in mind" according to Pavone, this technology could be applied to missions to other small Solar System bodies.〔 == Testing and mission architecture == Pavone and his group have already constructed and tested two generations of rovers, and hopes to begin low-gravity testing of his rovers by the summer of 2013.〔 These tests will simulate the low-gravity environment of Phobos first by means of a crane and by 2015, Pavone hopes, using an aircraft designed to reduce the force of gravity for its occupants.〔 The testing arena will be designed to mimic the surface of Phobos as closely as possible, containing rocks and using flour to take the place of asteroid dust.〔 In the mission concept,〔(Spacecraft/Rover Hybrids for the Exploration of Small Solar System Bodies ). (PDF) Marco Pavone, et al. 2013.〕 the rovers would be released near Phobos's large crater Stickney, where the orbiter would hover in a stable orbit around Phobos, and where the rovers themselves would gain access to the innermost rock layers of Phobos for analysis ''in situ''〔 and create a target for a future sample-return mission. This would be important scientifically, as it would allow a determination of whether Phobos is an asteroid captured by Mars's gravity, or a fragment of Mars that was lifted into orbit by an asteroid or comet impact〔 and would increase knowledge on the nature of Mars itself.〔 A mission to Phobos would also give the scientific community greater insights into the formation and evolution of the Solar System into its present state.〔 The low gravity of Phobos, as well as caves created by the impact that also created Stickney, make Phobos a prime target for the construction of a space colony, due to the ease of launching rockets from its surface and the radiation protection provided by the low gravity and caves respectively. Further assessment of the moon as a location for colonization and where on the moon human colonies should be constructed would be possible with the relatively inexpensive rovers before taking on the expense of manned missions.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Phobos Surveyor」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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