Voyage io the Moon 



(of Mars, that is) 



by Edward O I sen 

 Curator of AA ineralogy 



"He spake, and summoned Fear and Flight to yoke his 

 steed and put on his glorious armor." 



—Homer's The Iliad, Book XV 



Here, Homer tells the legend of Mars, the ancient 

 Greek god of war. To avenge the death of his son he 

 prepares to descend upon the Earth to strike its inhabi- 

 tants with fear (Deimos) and drive them to flight 

 (Phobos). 



The American astronomer Asaph Hall first dis- 

 covered the two tiny moons that circle the planet Mars 

 111 years ago (August 16 and 17, 1877). Mars had 

 called upon Fear and Flight (Deimos and Phobos, in 



Greek) so it seemed appropriate for Hall to give the 

 names Deimos and Phobos to the two small com- 

 panions of the planet Mars. 



Off and on for over a hundred years, searches had 

 been made for a moon (or moons) around Mars. No 

 one had found them, so the expert opinion was that 

 Mars had none. That didn't seem strange, for only 

 Earth, among the three inner planets, had any moons. 

 It actually seemed odd that the Earth does have one. 



18 The Phobos spacecraft. The two landers are not shown. 



