Phobos And Deimos & Mars Environment


Phobos And Deimos & Mars Environment is a low-cost NASA Mars orbiter mission concept that would address longstanding unknowns about Mars' two moons Phobos and Deimos and their environment.
The PADME mission competed for Discovery Program funding, but lost to the Psyche and Lucy missions. The Principal Investigator is Anthony Colaprete. Other principals include Pascal Lee and Butler Hine.

Objectives

The origin of Mars' satellites, which were discovered by astronomer Asaph Hall, remains unknown. PADME would advance the scientific understanding of the origin of Phobos and Deimos by studying:
In addition, PADME would assess potential resources and potential hazards that Phobos and Deimos might present for future human exploration in Mars orbit.

Mission

Once in Mars orbit, PADME would carry out 16 flybys of Phobos followed by 9 flybys of Deimos. Flybys would take place at two-week intervals. Flyby altitudes at closest approach to Phobos and Deimos would be ~2 km. Following completion of its primary mission, PADME could remain in high Mars orbit for long-term monitoring of the martian system and search for potential additional moonlets around Mars. Alternatively, PADME could be made to escape Mars and eventually fly by a Near-Earth Object.

Spacecraft

NASA Ames Research Center would design, develop, build, and test the PADME spacecraft, and manage mission operations. The proposal is to employ the proven Modular Common Spacecraft Bus, previously used by the LADEE Moon orbiter. Major partners include the SETI Institute, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.

Scientific payload

The PADME mission has four science instruments plus a radio science experiment which uses the spacecraft's radio communications system.
The orbiter could also carry an optional laser communications experiment.
PADME could launch on a Medium-lift class launch vehicle. The spacecraft would fit within all Atlas V, Delta IV, and Falcon 9 launch vehicle fairings. If selected, PADME would have been launched in August 2020 and reached Mars seven months later, by March 2021.

International Participation

PADME includes the participation of scientists from Belgium, France, Italy, and Japan.