Moons of Mars formed a large moon. Gravitational interactions between this moon and the outer ring formed Phobos and Deimos. Later, the large moon crashed into Mars, but the two small moons remained in orbit. This theory agrees with the fine-grained surface of the moons and their high porosity. The outer disk would create fine-grained material. While many Martian probes provided images and other data about Phobos and Deimos, only few were dedicated to these satellites and intended to perform a flyby or landing on the surface. Two probes under the Soviet Phobos program were successfully launched in 1988, but neither conducted the
Phobos (moon) presence of voids and indicate that it is not a solid chunk of rock but a porous body. The porosity of Phobos was calculated to be 30% ± 5%, or a quarter to a third being empty. Phobos has been photographed in close-up by several spacecraft whose primary mission has been to photograph Mars. The first was "Mariner 7" in 1969, followed by "Viking 1" in 1977, "Mars Global Surveyor" in 1998 and 2003, "Mars Express" in 2004, 2008, and 2010, and "Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter" in 2007 and 2008. On August 25, 2005, the "Spirit" rover, with an excess of