Another hypothesis is that Phobos and Deimos formed very much like Earth's moon did — that an impact on the surface of Mars threw debris into orbit that eventually coalesced into the two moons.

The names Phobos and Deimos mean "fear" and "panic ... Flying without any humans aboard, the probe soared past Mars and sent back photos of the planet's surface, according to NASA.

That is because its surface is composed of carbonaceous ... This mission will collect data from Deimos as well as Mars’ other moon, Phobos, where it will eventually land and collect samples ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I cover aerospace, astronomy & hosted The Cosmic Controversy Podcast.

Mars and Deimos seen by the TIRI "Hera has a pair of visible cameras ... will even attempt to land and move on the surface of Phobos (the larger moon of Mars)! The Hera and MMX teams are working ...

Between 2014 and 2018 I led a team of Museum Researchers and Curators working with the European Space Agency to develop a collection of different rocks and minerals that are analogues of the surfaces ...

Credit: Robert Citron From alluvial fans to lake beds, Mars has no shortage of surface features that ... its two moons, Phobos and Deimos, are far too small to exert much of a tidal force.) ...

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hera spacecraft successfully tested its autonomous surface feature tracking ... Planet and its enigmatic moons, Deimos and Phobos, marking its first deep ...