The two moons of Mars – Phobos and Deimos – could be the byproducts of a breakup of a huge moon that once circled the red planet, according to a new theory. The capture of a large Martian satellite may have taken place during or shortly after the formation of the planet, with Phobos and Deimos now the surviving remnants. Origin of the two moons presents a longstanding puzzle to which one researcher proposed the new solution at the 6th International Conference on Mars, held here last week. "Nobody has been able to explain the origin of Phobos and Deimos," said S. Fred Singer of the University of Virginia’s Science & Environmental Policy Project in Arlington, Virginia. Based on research performed as a visiting scientist at the Lunar & Planetary Institute in Houston in October 2002, Singer said that conventional hypotheses about the moons either violate physical laws or have difficulty accounting for their observed orbits.Singer reported at the meeting that "there are no ready alternatives to explain the origin of the Martian moons." t present, both satellites have near-circular and near-equatorial orbits. Phobos’ orbit, however, has been observed to shrink since its discovery in 1877. The present track of Deimos -- just beyond the synchronous limit where it nearly matches the spin rate of Mars – is an important data point, Singer said.
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