Meteorites from Phobos and Deimos at Earth?OPEN ACCESS
P. Wiegert, M.A. Galiazzo
Planetary and Space Science
In Press, Accepted Manuscript,
Available online 6 May 2017
“Highlights
• The transfer process of material from Phobos and Deimos to Earth is examined
• The existence of meteorites from Mars’ moons in the world’s meteorite collection to be reasonable to expect.
• The largest uncertainty is the speed distribution of ejecta fragments from impacts into Mars’ moons.”
“We examine the conditions under which material from the martian moons Phobos and Deimos could reach our planet in the form of meteorites. We find that the necessary ejection speeds from these moons (900 and 600 m/s for Phobos and Deimos respectively) are much smaller than from Mars’ surface (5000 m/s). These speeds are below typical impact speeds for asteroids and comets (10–40 km/s) at Mars’ orbit, and we conclude that delivery of meteorites from Phobos and Deimos to the Earth can occur.”
