Interpretation of the surface brightness of Phobos

Analysis of disk resolved images of Phobos obtained by the Phobos 2 spacecraft allows us to study the surface scattering law and albedo variations. From low phase angle images we find variations in local geometric albedo ∼ 10%, with a correlation length ∼ 1 km. The scattering law is reasonable well matched by the recent proposed LPI (Lumme et al. 1990a) model, which allows us to deduce a small scale (∼ 1 mm) surface roughness (∼ 0.5), defined here as the rms. tangent of the local surface normal relative to the mean surface normal in the Duxbury (1991) model of Phobos. This value is very close to what has been found for Mercury and the Moon.