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Mars’ moon Deimos formed a giant dent from a 320-meter impact
New simulations reveal a 320-meter impact created a giant dent on Mars’ moon Deimos, explaining its smooth surface and regolith—insights valuable for future Mars exploration and the study of the Mars system.
A projectile with a diameter of 320 meters created the dominant south-polar depression on Mars’ moon Deimos, new simulations reveal. The impact not only excavated this large cavity but also explains the globally distributed fine regolith layer covering the small moon’s surface. Researchers found Deimos’s upper layers are extremely weak and its interior highly porous, more closely resembling recently visited “rubble-pile” asteroids than previously assumed lunar regolith. This suggests that small dark moons and asteroids may converge on similar physical states, despite differing histories. The unexpectedly smooth surface of Mars’ moon Deimos originates from a single, massive impact,…
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