[X] My Assistant

[brachiopod]

It was suggested that the "UFO" streak seen by Spirit might be an old orbiter or a meteor.

I wonder, could the "UFO" be a small undiscovered Martain moon? It might just be a few tens of feet across, orbiting very low, and would not have been visible from Earth due to the glare from the planet. Mars does have two very small moons now, why not more smaller moons? However arguing against this is that I think that they said that it was in polar orbit; pretty unusual for a moon and maybe even impossible to maintain over long periods of time.

Bryan

[djellison]

Orbit too low and after a few years, atmospheric drag would slow it down till it re-enters.

Viking 2 is the obvious candidate. Right place, right time, and the sort of brightness onem might expect from a larger orbiter.

Doug