You can breathe easily. The Moon is slowly receding away from the Earth at a rate of 3.7 cm/year (1.5 in/yr). But the Martians aren't so lucky. Their moon Phobos is known to be doing exactly the opposite. It's spiraling inward, and in the distant future it will crash into the surface of Mars. Researchers [...]

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Just had to say this:
Oh, Phobos!

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"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"Carl Sagan sent a message to ET,
Neil Armstrong walked in the Sea of Tranquility
Steve Squyers built Spirit and Opportunity
Dan Haylen upchucked in zero gravity." -Brent Simon, The Space Camp Song

Will it help to require that all approaches to and departures from Phobos
be in appropriate directions to increase its momentum?

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

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http://www.FreeMars.org/jeff/

"I find astronomy very interesting, but I wouldn't if I thought we
were just going to sit here and look." -- "Van Rijn"

"The other planets? Well, they just happen to be there, but the
point of rockets is to explore them!" -- Kai Yeves

After Phobos crosses the Roche limit, and gets pulled apart into a ring, why would the ring continue to spiral inward? If the matter is evenly spread around its orbit, there would be no net bias in the tides it pulls on Mars' surface. There would be no trailing buldge to slow the ring particles.

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www.gravitysimulator.com