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Close-up of the Martian satellite Phobos showing peculiar regolithic mark- ings and pock-mark cratering. (NASA photo.) be tenable); fractures radiating from an impact crater not yet recognised (perhaps on the side of Phobos still poorly pho- tographed); or fractures created in the body of the Martian satellite when it was part of a hypothetical larger body that spawned both Martian moons, perhaps during a catastrophic impact.” In the latest effort to photograph Mars and its moons, the NASA Mars Observer was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force base in Florida in late 1992, on a 337-day voyage to Mars. The Mars Observer initially was expected to arrive at Mars by 19th August 1993, and enter a long, elliptical orbit over the poles. In mid- November 1993 it was to begin its two-year mapping of the sur- face of Mars. Then suddenly, on 22nd August 1993, it was announced that NASA had lost contact with the spacecraft. America and the world mourned the loss of a valuable scientific tool for understanding Mars. Taxpayers wondered if there was a better way to spend their money than on expensive space probes that didn't work. A dark shield was going up on new information about Mars to the public at large... Mars, Robert Richardson and Chesley Bonestell (1964), Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., New York, USA. Return To Mars, Brian Crowley and Anthony Pollock (1989), Matchbooks, Melbourne, Australia. The McDaniel Report, Stanley V. McDaniel (1993), North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, California, USA. Mysterious Universe: A Handbook of Astronomical Anomalies, William Corliss (1979), The Sourcebook Project, Glen Arm, Maryland, USA. 40¢NEXUS JUNE - JULY 1994 Oe FURTHER READING: —$<— SEE eee