Data from NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft has revealed the unsurprising — yet previously not searched for — presence of Martian atmospheric ions preserved in the top layer of regolith on the planet’s innermost moon, Phobos.
The announcement comes as an international fleet of Emirati, Chinese, and American spacecraft are set to begin arriving at Mars on Tuesday, 9 February for a variety of orbital and surface missions, with the Emirati and Chinese spacecraft entering Martian orbit while NASA’s Perseverance mission performs a direct entry and landing to Jezero Crater.