Working On Deimos The Deimos Moon Base GOING TO MARS BY WAY OF ITS MOONS |
Deimos Second Moon of Mars |
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Once I learned of the conditions, I was faced with the fact that working here presents many problems and would have to spend some amount of time thinking in this environment in order to design for it. It is defintiely an out-of-the-box problem. The escape velocity calculates to little more than |
Orthographic Projection | |
This three view image, combined with the polar photography below, gives us a good handle on where we are going. The chosen crater, indicated on both images, is nearly 1/8 mile in diameter, making it a good target for landing. It sits just forward of the nearly horizontal polar table with respect to the equator and is tipped slightly toward Mars for a good view while providing lateral and aft shielding with its walls. The rotating solar array, addressed below, can be anchored on the smooth plain just behind and above the habitat/lab crater (to the left in the North and 90° views) at highest latitude, less than 1/10 mile away. |
Polar photography from 500 km | |
A mosaic that I assembled from Viking 2 Orbiter photography shows the North polar view of Deimos viewed from the planet side. As you can see, it is pretty darn smooth up there. Not much for surface features and local color - but the view is great! |
Landing here, with the low surface gravity and low surface density, will be more of a rendezvous and docking maneuver than a landing. I would not expect that there will be much in the way of exhaust scouring of regolith but some dust may be redistributed by vernier firings. Larger RCS thrusters will most likely not be used to control the descent but instead be reserved for abort. I would expect that a controlled slow fall to the surface, combined with auger screw legs that are counter-rotating at time of touchdown to drill into the 50 meter thick regolith blanket upon contact, would be the most effective method of staying there once you get there. Another method would be to fire harpoons into the regolith from altitude and reel yourself in.
In this low gravity field, the surface will not be very dense. It will not behave in ways that normal dirt would be expected to behave in a one g field, as there has been nothing much to compress it. Think of it as deep snow and how efficient you are at moving in that. It may support you after initial compression but gives way under thrust. Moving shielding materials and larger equipment around would most likely be done with small assist devices, perhaps gas thruster powered, though the dust kicked up by them may itself be problematical.
Burying the habitat can be done in a number of ways, but it does pose its own problems. Heavy equipment would not be very effective in this low gravity field, if at all—mostly because it wouldn't be heavy. Get a blade full of dirt and your tracks will simply dig out from under you. |
And all that looks like.... |
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