Editing Phobos (moon) (section)

=== Missions considered ===
In 1997 and 1998, the ''Aladdin'' mission was selected as a finalist in the NASA [[Discovery Program]]. The plan was to visit both Phobos and Deimos, and launch projectiles at the satellites. The probe would collect the ejecta as it performed a slow flyby (~1&nbsp;km/s).<ref>{{cite book |last=Barnouin-Jha |first=Olivier S. |doi=10.1109/AERO.1999.794346 |title=1999 IEEE Aerospace Conference. Proceedings (Cat. No.99TH8403) |volume=1 |pages=403–412 vol.1 |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-7803-5425-8 |chapter=Aladdin: Sample return from the moons of Mars |s2cid=129101577 }}</ref> These samples would be returned to Earth for study three years later.<ref>{{cite web |last=Pieters |first=Carle |title=Aladdin: Phobos -Deimos Sample Return |url=http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc97/pdf/1113.PDF |work=28th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference |access-date=28 March 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Messenger and Aladdin Missions Selected as NASA Discovery Program Candidates |url=http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/1998/managed.asp |access-date=28 March 2013 |archive-date=4 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170404212543/http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/1998/managed.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Principal Investigator was Dr. [[Carle Pieters]] of [[Brown University]]. The total mission cost, including launch vehicle and operations was $247.7 million.<ref>{{cite web |title=Five Discovery mission proposals selected for feasibility studies |url=http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/text/discovery_pr_19981112.txt |access-date=28 March 2013 }}</ref> Ultimately, the mission chosen to fly was ''[[MESSENGER]]'', a probe to Mercury.<ref>{{cite web |title=NASA Selects Missions to Mercury and a Comet's Interior as Next Discovery Flights |url=http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/news/discovery_pr_19990707.html |access-date=28 March 2013 }}</ref>

In 2007, the European aerospace subsidiary [[EADS Astrium]] was reported to have been developing a mission to Phobos as a [[technology demonstrator]]. Astrium was involved in developing a [[European Space Agency]] plan for a sample return mission to Mars, as part of the ESA's [[Aurora programme]], and sending a mission to Phobos with its low gravity was seen as a good opportunity for testing and proving the technologies required for an eventual sample return mission to Mars. The mission was envisioned to start in 2016, was to last for three years. The company planned to use a "mothership", which would be propelled by an [[ion engine]], releasing a lander to the surface of Phobos. The lander would perform some tests and experiments, gather samples in a capsule, then return to the mothership and head back to Earth where the samples would be jettisoned for recovery on the surface.<ref>Amos, Jonathan; [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6324923.stm ''Martian Moon ’Could be Key Test’''], BBC News (9 February 2007)</ref>