The UAE Space Agency's "Hope Probe" in orbit around Mars captured this magnificent new image of the Red Planet and its moon Deimos. The most detailed photo of Deimos, it was taken just 100km above the surface of Mars.
"Previously, theories suggested that Deimos was an outer asteroid captured in Martian orbit," tweeted Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. "However, the Hope Probe's instruments and team have shown that the moon was once a part of Mars and separated from it millions of years ago, much like Earth's moon."
From Arabian Business:
The Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) is the first interplanetary exploration undertaken by an Arab nation.
It unveiled a series of unique and ground-breaking observations of the smaller Mars moon, Deimos, using all three of its science instruments to advance our fundamental understanding of the Red Planet's most mysterious moon and its larger companion, Phobos.
The new observations challenge the longstanding theory that Mars' moons are captured asteroids and instead point to a planetary origin.
The observations provide new insights into Deimos' makeup and structure.
