THE TWIN TILTS OF THE SPIN AXES OF MARS AND EARTH
Donald W. Patten and Samuel R. Windsor
http://www.kronia.com/symposium/patten.txt
"According to Roche's Limit, fragmentation of a smaller approaching body would occur at about 5,500 miles from the center of Mars, which is 3,400 miles above its surface. Almost opposite to the giant Hellas Crater is the gigantic Tharsis Bulge on Mars, some 4.5 miles high and 3,200 miles broad, scar piece # 3. A diagonal drawn from the center of Tharsis through the center of Hellas should give the trajectory of Astra, as it approached Mars, only to disintegrate into explosive fragments."
THE TWIN TILTS OF THE SPIN AXES OF MARS AND EARTH
Donald W. Patten and Samuel R. Windsor
http://www.kronia.com/symposium/patten.txt
"Mars experienced two fragmentations on its Roche Limit. One was the demise of the tiny planet Astra, which was about the diameter of Pluto, perhaps 1,500 to 1,600 miles in diameter. The demise of Astra provided an ancient ring of debris around Mars, of which Deimos and Phobos are vestiges. Other small debris almost surely is still there, but has escaped detection by unsuspecting astronomers. Some of this debris very likely ruined the recent, and very expensive Mars space mission."