This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Thanks to JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and its sample-return capabilities, we're on the cusp of receiving our first sample from the Martian system—not from Mars itself, but from its largest moon, Phobos. JAXA's Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is set to launch in October.
It will reach Phobos in 2027 and, if successful, return a sample from the moon to Earth in 2031. Much advance work goes into a sample-return mission. Scientists need a solid understanding of the object they're sampling to provide context for their samples.
To many of us, one rock looks much like the next. But to a scientist, even a few grams of regolith are loaded with information. Decoding that information to its fullest extent can depend on context.
Two European researchers have created an atlas of Phobos' surface that will help scientists understand MMX's sample-gathering activities. They present it in a research letter titled "The dynamical surface of Phobos: A morphodynamic atlas," published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. The authors are Isabel Herreros from the Spanish Astrobiology Center in Madrid and Sébastien Charnoz from the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris.
Despite being a fairly small chunk of rock, only about 11 km (6.8 miles) in diameter, Phobos has an interesting history—one we're uncertain about. It may be a rubble-pile asteroid with a thin crust that's slowly being torn apart by tidal interactions with Mars. It's similar to some asteroids, meaning it may be a captured asteroid.
Or it could be a disk-derived moon that coalesced from material thrown into orbit around Mars following an impact between Mars and another body. It could even be the result of some sort of hybrid process. Its confusing origins speak to the dynamic environment in which it's situated.
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