The Phobos monolith is a large rock on the surface of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

's moon Phobos. It is a boulder about across and tall. A

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. For instance, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often ma ...

is a geological feature consisting of a single massive piece of rock. Monoliths also occur naturally on Earth, but it has been suggested that the Phobos monolith may be a piece of

impact Impact may refer to: * Impact (mechanics), a high force or shock (mechanics) over a short time period * Impact, Texas, a town in Taylor County, Texas, US Science and technology * Impact crater, a meteor crater caused by an impact event * Impac ...

ejecta. The monolith is a bright object near Stickney crater, described as a "building sized" boulder, which casts a prominent shadow.Optech press release,
Canadian Mission Concept to Mysterious Mars moon Phobos to Feature Unique Rock-Dock Maneuver
" 3 May 2007. It was discovered by Efrain Palermo, who did extensive surveys of Martian probe imagery, and later confirmed by Lan Fleming, an imaging sub-contractor at NASA Johnson Space Center. The general vicinity of the monolith is a proposed landing site by Optech and the

Mars Institute The Mars Institute is an international non-governmental organization created with the goals of advancing the scientific study and exploration of Mars, conducting peer-reviewed research, and educating the public about Mars exploration. It was incor ...

, for a robotic mission to Phobos known as PRIME (Phobos Reconnaissance and International Mars Exploration). The PRIME mission would be composed of an orbiter and lander, and each would carry four instruments designed to study various aspects of Phobos' geology. At present, PRIME has not been funded and does not have a projected launch date. Former astronaut

Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...

has spoken about the Phobos monolith and his support for a mission to Phobos. The object appears in

Mars Global Surveyor ''Mars Global Surveyor'' (MGS) was an American robotic space probe developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. MGS was a global mapping mission that examined the entire planet, from the ionosphere down through t ...

images SPS252603 and SPS255103, dated 1998. The object is unrelated to another monolith located on the surface of Mars, which NASA noted as an example of a common surface feature in that region.''A rectangular object found jutting out of Mars's surface and caught on camera by the University of Arizona has caused speculation over the nature of the "monolith" and its origins.'' 9:45AM BST, 6 August 2009
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In fiction

The Phobos monolith features in the science-fiction novel '' Blue Remembered Earth'', wherein its surface has been entirely carved by visiting astronauts into the semblance of a wrecked spaceship. The Phobos monolith is also an important plot point in Dietmar Wehr science-fiction novel ''The Daedalus Mission: A Battle For Mars'', where it appears to be an artificial construct. The monolith is a source of conflict between private companies and China.

In fiction

See also

References

External links