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Given that the orbital period of Phobos and Deimos are different, and are relatively fast (7.66 hours, and 30.35 hours respectively) compared to our Moon, would future Scouts of Mars be able to easily calculate their location more easily than is done on Earth with tables, clock, and sextant?

If you have to wear a spacesuit to go outside, it is most likely that you've got the Martian equivalent of GPS, but just in the way people learn to navigate with sextants now, people might be interested in a 'back of the envelope' calculation for locating their position.

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    $\begingroup$ Note that Phobos orbits so close to the surface of Mars that it is not visible above about 70° Martian latitude north or south. As for Deimos, you must first identify it -- it is tiny and from the surface of Mars it looks like a bright star, sort of how Venus looks from Earth. $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Commented Jun 29 at 22:58

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would future Scouts of Mars be able to easily calculate their location more easily than is done on Earth with tables, clock, and sextant?

Assuming that one can see from the surface one or two of the satellites, one would still need to know

  • the time of the sol at which the observation is taking place (clock needed)
  • the position in the sky of the satellites (sextant needed)
  • determine where on the surface of Mars the above two pieces of information would be determined (tables needed)

Long story short: no, it cannot be done any easier than that.

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    $\begingroup$ worth noting you could combine all that in one instrument with todays electronics. It could even be all electronic, so the human has to do nothing more than point it at the sky. $\endgroup$
    – John
    Commented Jun 30 at 0:35
  • $\begingroup$ I agree with @John that the process of keeping taking a measurement of different celestial objects off the horizon, taking a look at the time, and comparing that to charts and tables, could likely be very much automated. I'd expect something like an iPhone could establish location in near real time by looking up at the sky and panning about a bit. If somehow accurate time keeping is lost then there's ways to determine the time with some celestial observation, which can be complicated but still likely highly automated. Whether this would be easier on Mars or Earth would likely be subjective. $\endgroup$
    – MacGuffin
    Commented 2 days ago
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In addition to L.Dutch's answer:

As well as clock, sextant and tables, I'd suggest a map.

Many aerial views have been accrued of the Red Planet, at different times of day with different shadow-lengths. The topography can be calculated from this leading to 3d maps on a tablet-like computer.

In any place on the surface, the view from the ground can be compared with the map (via camera) - the computer then compares the view with the model, giving a probability of being at a certain latitude/longitude. At the very least they should have an interactive map of the terrain. The benefits are obvious.

Combined into a single instrument as per @John's comment, this would be powerful and compact.

The downside:

On flat plains (of which mars has a few), the horizon may not contain any identifying features, or not sufficient of them to identify location. It would be hit and miss at night as to how much it might help (clouds). It would require charging in order to function, solar is fine, but overuse might leave the equipment unusable 'till charged again. A single instrument doing everything is a single point of failure for the navigating capacity - unless they can make a makeshift sextant from "stuff" around.

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