Editing Fred Singer (section)

===1960: Artificial Phobos hypothesis===
In a 1960 ''Astronautics'' newsletter, Singer commented on [[Iosif Shklovsky]]'s hypothesis<ref>I. S. Shklovsky, ''The Universe, Life, and Mind'', Academy of Sciences USSR, Moscow, 1962.</ref><ref>Iosif S. Shklovski and Carl Sagan. ''Intelligent Life in the Universe'', San Francisco: Holden-Day, 1966.</ref> that the orbit of the [[Mars|Martian]] moon [[Phobos (moon)|Phobos]] suggests that it is hollow, which implies it is of artificial origin. Singer wrote: "My conclusion there is, and here I back Shklovsky, that if the satellite is indeed spiraling inward as deduced from astronomical observation, then there is little alternative to the hypothesis that it is hollow and therefore martian made. The big 'if' lies in the astronomical observations; they may well be in error. Since they are based on several independent sets of measurements taken decades apart by different observers with different instruments, systematic errors may have influenced them."<ref>S. F. Singer, "More on the Moons of Mars", ''Astronautics'', February 1960, American Astronautical Society, page 16.</ref> Later measurements confirmed Singer's ''big "if"'' caveat: Shklovsky overestimated Phobos' rate of altitude loss due to bad early data.<ref>E. J. Öpik,  "News and Comments: Phobos, Nature of Acceleration". Irish Astronomical Journal 6: 40, March 1963.</ref> Photographs by probes beginning in 1972 show a natural stony surface with craters.<ref>[http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/programmissions/missions/past/mariner89/ Mars Exploration Program: Mariner 8 & 9]</ref> [[Ufology|Ufologists]] continue to present Singer as an unconditional supporter of Shklovsky's artificial Phobos hypothesis.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sema4.com.au/an/211-AN.pdf |title=Andrew Kelleher, "Phobos: the odd moon of Mars", in Alienation News #211 Nov 2002. |access-date=May 26, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040902064151/http://www.sema4.com.au/an/211-AN.pdf |archive-date=September 2, 2004 }}</ref>

''Time'' magazine wrote in 1969 that Singer had had a lifelong fascination with Phobos and Mars's second moon, [[Deimos (moon)|Deimos]]. He told ''Time'' it might be possible to pull Deimos into the Earth's orbit so it could be examined.<ref name=Time1969/><ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=gL9scSG3K_gC&dat=19690127&printsec=frontpage&hl=en "Scientist Urges U.S. Seizure of a Martian Moon"], ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', January 27, 1969, p2</ref>  During an international space symposium in May 1966, attended by space scientists from the United States and Soviet Union, he first proposed that crewed [[Phobos (moon)#Proposed missions|landings on the Martian moons]] would be a logical step after a crewed landing on the Earth's Moon. He pointed out that the very small sizes of Phobos and Deimos—approximately {{convert|14|and|8|mi|km|spell=in}} in diameter and sub milli-[[g-force|g]] surface gravity—would make it easier for a spacecraft to land and take off again.<ref>Sullivan, Walter. [https://www.nytimes.com/1966/05/19/archives/worlds-space-scientists-take-look-at-the-future-russian-says-man.html?sq=%2522fred%2520singer%2522&scp=33&st=cse "World's Space Scientists Take Look at the Future"], ''The New York Times'', May 19, 1966.
* S. Fred Singer. [http://www.philsoc.org/2002Fall/2153abstract.html "A Manned Mission to the Mysterious Moons of Mars"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070415130215/http://www.philsoc.org/2002Fall/2153abstract.html |date=April 15, 2007 }}, Philosophical Society of Washington, November 22, 2002, accessed May 13, 2010.</ref>