2007年,加拿大太空總署资助了Optech公司(英语:Optech)和火星研究所(英语:Mars Institute]]])的一项研究,这是到火卫一的无人探测任务,名叫PRIME(Phobos Reconnaissance and International Mars Exploration,火卫一侦查和国际火星探测)。建议PRIME飞船的着陆地点为火卫一的独石,这是斯蒂克尼坑附近的一个明亮的物体,投射下了明显的影子[56][57][58]。2009年7月22日,C-Span采访航天员巴兹·奥尔德林时,他提到这个独石说,“我们应该大胆去往人类没有去过的地方。飞跃彗星,访问小行星,访问火星的卫星。这个土豆形状的天体每7个小时绕火星一圈,上面的独石是一个很特别的结构。人们发现后就提问:是谁把这个东西放在那里的?是宇宙放的,如果你愿意,也可以说是上帝放的……[59][60]”PRIME任务将包括一个着陆器和一个轨道器[62],分别将携带4个仪器,用于研究火卫一的各种地质特征[61]。到2009年4月20日,PRIME还没有明确的发射计划。
^Close Inspection for Phobos. [2011-11-07]. (原始内容存档于2012-01-14). It is light, with a density less than twice that of water, and orbits just 5989 km above the Martian surface.
^Murchie, S. L.; Erard, S., Langevin, Y., Britt, D. T., Bibring, J. P., and Mustard, J. F. Disk-resolved Spectral Reflectance Properties of Phobos from 0.3-3.2 microns: Preliminary Integrated Results from PhobosH 2. Abstracts of the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. 1991, 22: 943.引文使用过时参数coauthors (帮助)
^Viking looks at Phobos in detail. New Scientist. 1976-10-21: 158.使用|accessdate=需要含有|url= (帮助)
^Stickney Crater-Phobos. [2011-11-07]. (原始内容存档于2011-11-03). One of the most striking features of Phobos, aside from its irregular shape, is its giant crater Stickney. Because Phobos is only 28 by 20 km, the moon must have been nearly shattered from the force of the impact that caused the giant crater. Grooves that extend across the surface from Stickney appear to be surface fractures caused by the impact.
^Ivanov, Andrei; Michael Zolensky. The Kaidun Meteorite: Where Did It Come From?(PDF). Lunar and Planetary Science. 2003, 34 [2011-11-07]. (原始内容存档(PDF)于2011-08-05). The currently available data on the lithologic composition of the Kaidun meteorite– primarily the composition of the main portion of the meteorite, corresponding to CR2 carbonaceous chondrites and the presence of clasts of deeply differentiated rock – provide weighty support for considering the meteorite’s parent body to be a carbonaceous chondrite satellite of a large differentiated planet. The only possible candidates in the modern solar system are Phobos and Deimos, the moons of Mars.
^Sharma, B. K. Theoretical Formulation of the Phobos, moon of Mars, rate of altitudinal loss. 2008-05-10. arXiv:0805.1454.
^ 34.034.134.2Burns, J. A. "Contradictory Clues as to the Origin of the Martian Moons," in Mars, H. H. Kieffer et al., eds., U. Arizona Press, Tucson, 1992
^Close Inspection for Phobos. [2011-11-07]. (原始内容存档于2012-01-14). One idea is that Phobos and Deimos, Mars's other moon, are captured asteroids.
^ 36.036.1Landis, G. A. "Origin of Martian Moons from Binary Asteroid Dissociation," American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting; Boston, MA, 2001; 摘要 (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆).
^Craddock, R. A.; (1994); The Origin of Phobos and Deimos, 第25届月球和行星科学年会摘要(Abstracts of the 25th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference,1994年3月14日至18日在休斯顿举办)293页
^ 45.045.1Öpik, E. J. News and Comments: Phobos, Nature of Acceleration. Irish Astronomical Journal. March 1963, 6: 40. Bibcode:1963IrAJ....6R..40..
^Singer, S. F., On the Origin of the Martian Satellites Phobos and Deimos, Seventh International Space Science Symposium held May 10–18, 1966 in Vienna, North-Holland Publishing Company, 1967, Bibcode:1967mopl.conf..317S
^Lee, P., R. Richards, A. Hildebrand, and the PRIME Mission Team 2008. The PRIME (Phobos Reconnaissance and International Mars Exploration) Mission and Mars sample Return. 39th Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf., Houston, TX, March 2008. [#2268]|http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2008/pdf/2268.pdf (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆)
^原文:We should go boldly where man has not gone before. Fly by the comets, visit asteroids, visit the moon of Mars. There’s a monolith there. A very unusual structure on this potato shaped object that goes around Mars once in seven hours. When people find out about that they’re going to say ‘Who put that there? Who put that there?’ The universe put it there. If you choose, God put it there...
^Lee, P. et al. 2010. Hall: A Phobos and Deimos Sample Return Mission. 44th Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf., The Woodlands, TX. 1-5 Mar 2010. [#1633] Bibcode:2010LPI....41.1633L.
^Landis, Geoffrey A. "Footsteps to Mars: an Incremental Approach to Mars Exploration," Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, Vol. 48, pp. 367-342 (1995); presented at Case for Mars V, Boulder CO, 26-May 29, 1993; appears in From Imagination to Reality: Mars Exploration Studies, R. Zubrin, ed., AAS Science and Technology Series Volume 91 pp. 339-350 (1997). (可以从Footsteps to Mars (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆)访问,为PDF格式)
^ 64.064.1Lee, P., S. Braham, G. Mungas, M. Silver, P. Thomas, and M. West (2005). Phobos: A Critical Link Between Moon and Mars Exploration. Report of the Space Resources Rountable VII: LEAG Conference on Lunar Exploration, League City, TX 25-28 Oct 2005. LPI Contrib. 1318, p. 72. Bibcode:2005LPICo1287...56L
^Lee, P. (2007). Phobos-Deimos ASAP: A Case for the Human Exploration of the Moons of Mars. First Int’l Conf. Explor. Phobos & Deimos. NASA Research Park, Moffett Field, CA, 5-7 Nov 2007. LPI Contrib. 1377, p. 25 [#7044]|http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/phobosdeimos2007/pdf/7044.pdf (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆)