Is Phobos a Mined Asteroid? By Lee Covino

On March 25, 2010, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced on their blog that ESA’s study of the mass of Phobos had been accepted for publication in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters. The announcement excerpted startling conclusions of ESA’s findings: “We conclude that the interior of Phobos likely contains large voids. When applied to various hypotheses bearing on the origin of Phobos, these results are inconsistent with the proposition that Phobos is a captured asteroid.” (1,2)

Since that time, a number of prominent ancient astronaut blogs have had plenty to say about the findings. The ESA findings were most recently written about in December of 2012. For the sake of expediency, I shall focus only on what the late Zecharia Sitchin previously had to say about Phobos, and leave it to the adept reader to search for UFO Digest, Before It’s News, Above Top Secret, Richard C. Hoagland’s Enterprise Mission and other.com sites who most recently covered ESA’s findings.

It should be noted here that Russia also launched a second probe to Phobos on November 9, 2011, but the mission failed to escape Earth orbit and presumably fell to the sea. Most likely, chatter about the unsuccessful Russian Phobos-Grunt probe renewed interest in the ESA findings during 2012.

To date, internet speculation on Phobos has included: it’s a gigantic spaceship possibly built as an orbiting station or space observatory; a generation starship that arrived from another star system and was placed in parking orbit around Mars; it was being built in Mars orbit for interstellar travel but was never completed; and, it’s a functional (or non-functional) gargantuan planet-killing space bomb.

As a backyard astronomer and avid reader of Zecharia Sitchin’s books, I would like to propose a new consideration: Phobos is a previously mined asteroid.

Although Phobos is referred to as a moon of Mars, its actual size is more like one of the larger asteroids located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. To give an example, the asteroid Gaspara is one of the larger main belt asteroids, coming in at 11km. Phobos is also 11km. To give further perspective, Earth’s Moon is 1,737km. So, Phobos is a moonlet of Mars at best.

Both NASA and the private sector are reported in January 2013 as looking into the capture and ultimately mining of asteroids. NASA is considering a plan to drag a near-earth asteroid into the moon’s orbit, while the private sector is considering capturing a near-earth asteroid and dragging it into an earth orbit.

Image Credit: Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library

DATELINE: January 2, 2013 – “NASA mulls plan to drag asteroid into moon’s orbit”

New Scientist reports that, “…NASA is considering a proposal to capture an asteroid and drag it into the moon’s orbit…by the 2020’s.” The article says that, “Robotically bringing a (7m-wide) asteroid to the moon…would be a more attractive step” to allow further robotic probes, “…and maybe even humans.” More importantly, New Scientist says, “Such work could help develop ways to use asteroid material for construction or spaceship fuels, making it a stepping stone for human missions to larger asteroids and eventually to Mars.” (3)

DATELINE: January 25, 2013 – “Asteroid Mining Becoming More Of A Reality”

Kitco News, a precious metals industry service reports that, “…Deep Space Industries (DSI) is working towards making asteroid mining a reality.” DSI, of McLean, Virginia, “…plans to launch two…space probes named FireFly in 2015.” DSI is ultimately “…looking for asteroids that are between 100 and 300 meters long.” The company is quoted as saying, “Our main commercial market, we believe will be propellant…for communication satellites…” But, they are also looking at other by-products for mining: “There are some asteroids that are high in water, methane and other hydrocarbons…nickel-iron…gold, silver and platinum.” Regarding the shift in interest to capture and drag an asteroid into orbit, the article states, “Bringing it back to an orbit where it can be more easily accessed is a relatively new idea (as opposed to) setting up an outpost on an asteroid and mining it while it was in (its own) orbit.” (4)

In his book "Genesis Revisited", Zecharia Sitchin entirely devotes Chapter 12 to the enigma that is Phobos. In it, he details the first failed Russian probe to the asteroid (launched July 12, 1988), which was known as Phobos 2. The probe was equipped with “…highly sophisticated equipment that included two packages of instruments to be placed on the moonlet’s surface.” (5)

The Soviet mission control center announced that communication with the probe was lost on March 28, 1989. Assisting the Soviets was the European Space Agency, along with French and German scientific institutions. But none were able to re-establish communication with the probe. However, the probe’s final pictures were beamed to the control center.

Sitchin continues: “… reports in the European press (but for some reason not in the U.S. media) spoke of an ‘unidentified object’ that was seen ‘in the final pictures taken by the spaceship,’ which showed an ‘inexplicable’ object or ‘elliptical shadow’ on Mars.” Without going into further detail, some believe that the probe was taken out of commission by some kind of sentinel protecting Phobos from intruders. The whole episode has previously received coverage on cable broadcasts.

“It is noteworthy that Phobos, unlike the smaller Deimos, has peculiar features that have led some scientists in the past to suspect that that it was artificially fashioned,” Sitchin says. “There are peculiar ‘track marks’ that run almost straight and parallel to each other. The possibility that these…tracks were caused by flowing water or wind has been ruled out… The tracks seem to lead to or from a crater that covers more than a third of the moonlet’s diameter and whose rim is so perfectly circular that it looks artificial.” (5)

Sitchin speculates: “Were a natural crater and interior faults artificially carved out by ‘someone’ to create…a shelter, shielding its occupants from the cold and radiation of space?”

Maybe so, but Sitchin’s own interpretation of the cuneiform seals and tablets indicates that the Red Planet was first a base for Alalu and his people and then developed as a “way station” by the Anunnaki to ship Earth’s gold back to the home planet Nibiru.

Following NASA’s and the private sector’s approach on how to establish a base on the Moon, resources for raw construction materials, spaceship fuel and water are paramount and must be available locally. Where would all of these resources be available in concentrated amounts? Contained within the proper asteroid, of course! The proximity of the Main Asteroid Belt, located between Mars and Jupiter provides just such a good hunting ground for resource-rich asteroids.

In Sitchin’s own writings (6,7), he leaves a trail of breadcrumbs which – when considered in tandem with NASA’s and the private sector’s current efforts to capture, drag into orbit and mine asteroids – leaves me to confidently conclude that Phobos was brought to its current location in an effort to mine it for resources used in constructing the Mars way station. It may also, as Sitchin has speculated, have served as a shelter shielding its occupants from the cold and radiation of space. In my opinion, a Mars way station that functioned for thousands of years could not have been efficiently constructed were these resources to have been shipped in from points beyond.

The following includes excerpts from a paper by Sasha Lessin, Ph.D. (8):

"Our timeline begins some 500,000 years ago, when King Lahma, the eighth dynastic King on Nibiru confronted environmental disaster. Nibiru was losing atmosphere, needed for climate stability and survival of its people. King Lahma considered nuking the volcanoes and sending miners to nearby asteroids to create an atmospheric barrier and preserve the atmosphere. King Lahma’s scientists suggested that since the asteroid probes had indicated the presence of gold, that the metal could be recovered, reduced to powder and spread into Nibiru’s atmosphere.

It should be noted here that today, the canopies of jet fighters like the F-16 contains fine gold powder, used to deflect the harmful rays of the Sun. Also, scientists investigating a response to climate change have suggested geo-engineering the Earth’s atmosphere with fine metallic dust to induce global cooling, not unlike when volcanoes discharge metric tons particles into the atmosphere and thereby cools the planet. These methods are designed to deflect the rays of the Sun.

King Lahma was deposed (fatally) by Prince Alalu because of his failure to implement a plan to save the planet. Anu, Lahma’s rightful heir, agreed to Alalu’s rule. Anu’s firstborn son, Ea/Enki married Alalu’s daughter Damlina/Ninki to seal the deal. King Alalu then proceeded to address Nibiru’s urgent need to preserve its atmosphere. King Alalu tried nuking the volcanoes, but it wasn’t enough to correct the problem.

He sent up a mission to the asteroids to mine for gold, but the rocket crashed leaving no survivors. Anu, now citing his rightful succession to the throne and Alalu’s failures, challenged him to the kingship. In a hand-to-hand match up, Anu emerged victorious and became king.

In an attempt to regain his rule, Alalu stole a rocket and made his way through the asteroid belt to Earth, where he found gold in the (Persian) Gulf. He threatened Nibiru with nukes and said that the fate of Nibiru’s atmosphere was in his hands. Anu’s son Enlil beamed to Alalu to prove there was enough gold there, and Alalu responded with technical data proving his contention. Ea/Enki, as son-in-law to Alalu, was in a position to mediate and asked the governing Council to approve a mission for him to pass through the asteroid belt, visit Earth and obtain gold from its waters in the Gulf. “Let Alalu rule Earth, but for kingship on Nibiru let him wrestle Anu,” he said. Anu also approved of the plan.

When Ea/Enki reached the asteroid belt, he blasted the rocks in his path with water, which was also a part of his on-board propulsion system. But the pilot Anzu warned that the water levels were depleted and the rocket would fail to reach Earth unless more water was added. Water was found on Mars and the mission reached its destination.

Meeting up with Alalu, Ea/Enki built the first settlement, Eridu near the Gulf where gold recovery operations from those waters began in earnest. Ea/Enki also built a flying chariot and with his personal pilot Abgal probed the planet further for other sources of gold. After sending two successive shipments of gold back to Nibiru, it was determined that the Gulf water’s yield was insufficient to address the atmospheric problem. Finally, Ea/Enki found huge veins of gold in Southeast Africa, which was called the Abzu.

Enlil then visited Earth and confirmed the massive find of gold in the Abzu, enough to save Nibiru’s atmosphere. With rivalries between Alalu and Anu, and Enki and his brother Enlil continuing to smolder, Anu traveled to Earth at Enlil’s request to draw lots and settle the chain of leadership once and for all. Three lots were drawn: one for rule over Nibiru; another to control the Persian Gulf operations; and another to control operations in the Abzu and sea lanes to the Gulf. Enlil became the Lord of the Command and was based in the Edin (Gulf); Ea/Enki was awarded oversight of the Abzu and of the seas; but Alalu disagreed that Anu should be the ruler of Nibiru, asserting both his command of the Earth and of Nibiru.

So, Anu and Alalu again engaged in a hand-to-hand wrestling contest. Without going into further details, Alalu was exiled to Mars with food and tools along with the pilot Anzu, after “playing dirty” in his contest with Anu. Anzu would tend to Alalu until his death there.

After Anu arrived back on the home planet, he told the Council of ambitious plans to hunt for gold throughout the solar system; there would be continuous freight shuttles between Earth and way stations on the Moon and Mars, as well as on other satellites. From these way stations, the gold would be shipped back to Nibiru.

Sending his daughter Ninmah with a crew of female health officers back to Earth, Anu instructed her to check in on Alalu as they passed Mars on the way in. He further ordered her to give Anzu other crewmembers to construct the first way station. Upon arriving on Mars, Ninmah found Alalu had died and gave 20 crewmembers to Anzu, with orders to construct the way station to accept the shipments of gold bound for Nibiru."

Such a major undertaking could not be done without access to construction materials including metals. And, with a dual mission which included a hunt for gold throughout the solar system, the main belt asteroids become prime candidates to drag into local orbit and mine for these resources. Mars contains traces of water, necessary for life, fuel and perhaps electricity. But on the metal front, the planet is mainly composed of iron oxides and short on other metals. So, asteroids are a likely place to obtain what was needed to develop the way station. Was Phobos mined? Was Deimos also placed in the queue?

While today’s internet blog sites may point to blockbuster sci-fi movies while speculating that Phobos is a starship or planet-killing machine, I am content to point to what I call “The Most Fantastic Story Ever Told” -- Zecharia Sitchin’s Earth Chronicles -- when I propose for your consideration that Phobos is a mined asteroid. The circumstantial evidence left behind by the Anunnaki speaks for itself.

On the evening of 28/2/13, broadcaster Linda Moulton Howe appeared to take a swipe at the proposals put forward in this article on Coast-To-Coast AM (9). Without citing this paper directly, Howe writes in a follow-up article on her website:

"Recently an article came to Earthfiles, along with an illustration of how Phobos is camouflage for a structured interior. Allegedly the information source was someone within the European Space Agency, known as ESA. No one at ESA has confirmed any reality to the illustration and web article..." (10)

She seems to have confused the information provided in this article for some kind of official ESA press release, which it quite evidently isn't. As a result, she discussed Phobos with Dr. Jay Melosh of Perdue University. He dismissed speculation that Phobos is hollow or an artificial body and, instead, suggested that it is "thoroughly fractured and has a lot of void space in it." (9)

If Linda Moulton Howe's point is that the illustration at the top of this article is not properly referenced, then one cannot help but be amused by the irony here: She fails to reference this article in both her C2C interview and her Earthfiles article. The broader irony is Howe's "mainstream" response to the large voids of Phobos, and Coast's willingness to allow for such a one-sided debate.

Written by Lee Covino, 9th February 2013 (updated 2/3/13 by Lee Covino and Andy Lloyd)

Lee Covino is a backyard astronomer who became fascinated with the works of Zecharia Sitchin, beginning with his first Earth Chronicle entitled, "The 12th Planet." He was taken aback as to how Sitchin's theory explained many of the anomalies of the outer solar system, including the "hammered bracelet," or Main Asteroid Belt. The antiquity of the Sumerian cylinders and seals which Sitchin interpreted only added to Covino's interest in his works.

In the late 1990's, Covino found Andy Lloyd's Dark Star Website darkstar1.co.uk, which focused in part on the astronomy of Nibiru. Knowing that the premise that Nibiru as a "rouge planet," seemed impossible to support life, Covino's interest in Andy's binary star system theory grew. Today's science has since confirmed that life on planets within the habitable zone of brown dwarf stars is a strong possibility.

In 2004, Lee Covino served as a volunteer editor for Andy Lloyd's first non-fiction book entitled, "Dark Star - The Planet X Evidence." Since that time, he has also edited two of Lloyd's novels, "Ezekiel One" (2008), and "Followers of Horus" (2010).

Covino is also a frequent contributor to Andy's board, The Dark Star Planet X Group

Lee Covino lives in Staten Island, New York and received his A.A.S. (1974) and B.A. in Science, Letters and Society (1977) from the College of Staten Island, City University of New York. He was inducted into the college's Alumni Hall of Fame in 1989.

2) Andert, T. P., et al. "Precise Mass Determination and the Nature of Phobos", Geophys. Res. Lett., Vol. 37, Issue 9, May 2010

3) Jeff Hecht “NASA mulls plan to drag asteroid into moon’s orbit” 2 January 2013

4) Alex Létourneau “Asteroid Mining Becoming More Of A Reality” 25 January 2013

5) Zecharia Sitchin “Genesis Revisited: Is Modern Science Catching Up With Ancient Knowledge?” Avon Books, 1990

6) Zecharia Sitchin "The Lost Book of Enki: : Memoirs and Prophecies of an Extraterrestrial God" Avon Books, 2002

8) Sasha Lessin, Ph.D. “How Face of Alu, First Nibiran on Earth, Became Face on Mars” 15 April 2008 (article no longer available online)

9) Coast-to-Coast with George Noory, interviewing Linda Moulton Howe "Mystery Booms, Bigfoot DNA, & Phobos" 28 February 2013

10) Linda Moulton Howe "Strange Martian Moon Phobos - Could its Dust have Evidence of Life?" Feb 2013