Mars's moon Phobos is so strange that no one knows how it formed. But a forthcoming mission could solve this mystery - and a host of other puzzles connected to the solar system's deep past ...

Phobos completes one orbit of Mars in just over seven and a half hours at an altitude of approximately 6000 kilometres. Thus, the moon moves around the planet ... Arguments against this model include ...

This new model proposes that Phobos and Deimos resulted from the wreckage ... around their new parent planet — Neptune's moon Triton, or Saturn's moon Phoebe are good examples.

The MMX space probe from the Japanese space organisation JAXA is set to change this: it will examine the two Martian moons in detail from orbit and collect material samples from Phobos for the first ...

"Furthermore, this new model makes different ... called MEGANE—short for Mars-moon Exploration with GAmma rays and Neutrons—will identify the chemical elements Phobos is made of and help ...