The recent discovery of glacier remains in Noctis Labyrinthus, the "Maze of the Night" near Mars' equator sheds new light on the history of water on Mars, the evolution of the planet’s climate and geology, and the possibility of life. It also opens the possibility for massive amounts of clean glacier ice to be accessed by astronauts at low latitudes on Mars, alleviating the need to operate in more frigid higher latitudes. Further reconnaissance of the site requires a robotic vehicle capable of traversing rough, salt-crusted glacier surfaces and leaping across crevasse fields. To address this need, we propose a conceptual hybrid aerial/ground vehicle, LILI (Long-term Ice-field Levitating Investigator). LILI combines episodic rotary-wing flight with ground mobility as a propeller-driven sled through an arrangement of skis/runners, wheels, and tilting proprotors. A high-level look at the Noctis Labyrinthus "relict glacier" site is presented, along with a notional LILI mission traverse concept designed to ensure critical scientific measurements are captured. The NASA Design and Analysis of Rotorcraft (NDARC) software is utilized to ensure that mission requirements and sizing constraints are met. Furthermore, future work considers guidance, navigation, and control requirements to satisfy mission objectives, and an initial construction for a simplified LILI small-scale prototype.

The Schrodinger impact basin provides significant geological targets for future exploration, including impact melts, multi-kilometer-long exposures of magmatic rocks from deep within the lunar crust, volcanic mare, pyroclastic ash deposits, potentially with mantle xenoliths, and a geophysical setting for examining the near- rim structure of the South Pole-Aitken mega-basin. Surveyor, Ranger, and Apollo programs confirmed that constant gardening of the lunar surface by impact cratering processes reduces the availability of outcrops, which are those key bedrock exposures that geologists on Earth use as the most reliable sources of information about planetary evolution. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) images of the lunar surface are providing data needed to identify bedrock exposures on the Moon, and tracked boulders leading to rock exposures, in locations suitable for future exploration. One such rocky exposure occurs within a volcanic vent within the Schrodinger impact basin. We consider six working hypotheses for its origin and conclude it likely represents a bedrock exposure of impact melt and/or impact breccia produced by the Schrodinger impact event or, alternatively, pristine lava rock associated with the vent's pyroclastic origin. While elsewhere in the basin those units are covered with regolith and younger volcanic deposits, the opening of a crater floor fracture and pyroclastic eruption of volcanic material cleared a vertical exposure through the impact or eruptive lithologies, which remain accessible for exploration today.

Over 300 caves and pits are known to exist on the Moon, and close to 1000 on Mars. Lunar and planetary caves and pits are sheltered microenvironments on planetary bodies offering environmental conditions that differ greatly from those prevailing at the surface, in particular shielding from ionizing space radiation and micro-meteoritic bombardment, dampened diurnal temperature variations, generally colder temperatures, and the possibility in some cases of volatile cold-trapping and maybe even life. On the Moon, high-latitude caves represent a type of permanently shadowed region (PSR) in which H2O and other volatile ices might be sequestered. On Mars, volcanic caves might be astrobiological oases, offering sheltered habitats for even extant life. On both worlds, caves and pits thus represent high priority targets for science and future robotic and human exploration. We report here on the first field study engaging an EVA spacesuit system manufacturer of requirements for EVA systems and operations to enable safe and productive cave and pit exploration on the Moon and Mars. Analog field tests were conducted in the context of the NASA Haughton-Mars Project in collaboration with Collins Aerospace at Skylight Cave lava tube in Deschutes National Forest, Oregon. Recommended augmentations to spacesuit features include LED lighting at several key locations on the upper and lower torso, glove and boot tips; additional abrasion-resistant outer garments; and a removable shield cage to protect the helmet visor. Lessons learned for lunar and Mars caving operations will also be presented.

Introduction: Concentric depressions on the floor of Schomberger A crater on the Moon are interpreted as impact melt lava inflation cracks, indicating lava surges during emplacement, a new form of permanently shadowed regions (PSR), and possible caves near the lunar south pole. Schomberger-A: Schomberger A is a 31 km diameter impact crater located at 78.8°S, 24.4°E, 340 km from the lunar South Pole (Fig. 1A). It presents a fresh morphology and a ray system, and is estimated to be of Copernican age (<1.1 Ga old). Schomberger A is the highest latitude Copernican crater on the Moon large enough to have produced substantial impact melt. Melt-producing Copernican age craters are of interest in the exploration of the lunar subsurface, as close to 86% of pits and caves identified on the Moon to date occur on the impact melt floors of Copernican age craters [1]. Prior to the present study, the highest latitude candidate pits and caves on the Moon are on the impact melt floors of Philolaus [2-4] and Anaxagoras [5] craters, two Copernican age impact structures located at 72.1°N and 73.5°N, respectively. High latitude pits and caves on the Moon, while still only tentatively identified because of marginal lighting conditions, are a particularly intriguing possibility, as they would not only provide access to the lunar subsurface (like pits/caves anywhere on the Moon would), but would also be cold enough to coldtrap volatiles, much like permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) at the lunar poles do [6]. Impact-Melt Lava Inflation: The floor of Schomberger A is occupied by a sub-horizontal geologic unit edged by several lobate flow fronts (Fig. 2A+B). The lobate flows circumvent and embay large blocky masses on the crater floor (Fig. 2B). The unit is interpreted as an impact melt deposit, and the lobate flows as impact melt lava flows. The surface of this impact melt unit presents well-developed sets of sub-parallel and roughly equidistant curvilinear depressions, a majority of which conform to the edge of the convex lobate flows (Fig. 2C+D). These sets of curvilinear depressions are interpreted as lava flow surface fractures, specifically inflation cracks. Inflation is a process in basaltic volcanism in which molten material is injected beneath the crust of an active lava flow and lifts it upwards. The swelling of the lava flow can result in fracturing of the crust’s surface. Inflated lava flows have previously been interpreted on the Moon [7] and other planetary surfaces [8], but like terrestrial counterparts [9], only in association with Figure 1. Schomberger A crater and impact melt deposit. A: Location map; B: Shaded relief and slopes (NASA LRO NAC imaging data + Chang’e 2 CCD slope data). Schomberger A presents steep (15-30°) slopes with mass wasting features, and a sub-horizontal impact melt sheet on its floor.

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is a technology demonstrator. The hope is that Ingenuity will one day lead to future generations of ever-more capable rotorcraft and other aerial vehicles for Mars exploration and other planetary science missions. This paper builds upon nearly twenty-four years of Mars rotorcraft and planetary aerial vehicle work at NASA Ames Research Center. It is posited that a spectrum of different Mars aerial vehicle mission concepts and capabilities could be developed over the next couple of decades – all of which are now potentially enabled by Ingenuity. A series of technology challenges or problems are also detailed in this paper. These problems are presented as an aid in helping establish a nascent planetary rotorcraft or planetary aerial vehicle research community as well as, maybe, helping realize some of the vehicle/mission concepts discussed in the paper.

Pascal Lee, Mars Institute, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center (ARC), US

exploration, including rotorcraft drones on Mars, a series of handling qualities flight tests were conducted at a Mars analog site in the Arctic in order to simulate the active piloting of UAVs by astronauts in a spacesuit. This research, which was conducted as part of the NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) on Devon Island, High Arctic, required the adaptation of classical flight test techniques and standardized handling qualities tests in order to evaluate the ease and precision of rotorcraft UAV control with various configurations of spacesuit interface. Quantitative and qualitative data from flight tests were used to compare traditional UAV controls to an innovative interface called the Astronaut Smart Glove (ASG), for potential applications during future Mars surface exploration. The ASG is a prototype human-machine interface (HuMI) and Augmented Reality (AR) system that would allow astronauts to wirelessly operate robotic assets, including drones, via simple hand positions and gestures. This ASG technology and associated head-mounted display (HMD), which were both integrated into an unpressurized concept spacesuit, were successfully evaluated at HMP during a series of handling qualities tests involving the teleoperation of commercial UAVs. Representative tasks and adapted mission task elements (MTEs) from the Aeronautical Design Standard for Handling Qualities Requirements for Military Rotorcraft (ADS-33E-PRF), were successfully applied to assess the handling qualities of commercial rotorcraft drones, when controlled via the ASG and concept spacesuit interface. Flight test results of the ASG suggest that astronauts will plausibly be able to easily and precisely control rotorcraft drones, using only simple hand movements and gestures, for future human missions to Mars. This research also demonstrates that handling qualities tests associated with manned aircraft testing on Earth, as well as video analysis techniques, should be applicable to astronaut-operated UAV operations evaluations for space.

We synthesize lessons learned from our recent studies of lava pits and caves on the Earth, Moon and Mars, and of promising technologies to explore these, and offer recommendations for the future. Pits/Caves & Lava Tubes on the Moon & Mars: Over 300 pits have been identified on the Moon [17,35,36]. The USGS’ Mars Global Cave Catalog lists over a thousand pits and candidate caves [12]. The vast majority of planetary pits are associated with lava cavities, mostly volcanic or impact melt lava tubes. Some pits on Mars are of volcano-tectonic origin [9,11]. None are likely from speleogenesis in karst. Most pits and caves identified on the Moon are within 60° of the equator, a biased distribution reflecting an inherent limitation in the automated approach used to identify lunar pits [35]. While still geologically interesting, low latitude pits/caves are not expected to be cold enough to cold-trap H2O ice, mainly because their warm sunlit floors would radiate substantial heat into adjacent cave volume. However, we recently identified candidate impact melt lava tube skylights on the floor of Philolaus Crater (D~70km, 72.1°N,32.4°W), 800 km from the lunar North Pole [23,24]. If confirmed, these skylights would be high enough in latitude to have permanently shadowed floors as cold as the poles’ Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSR). Terrestrial Analogs: Lava tubes on Earth, including collapsed ones, are analogs for sinuous rilles and pit crater chains on the Moon and Mars [33,14,8,24]. To understand better if and where H2O ice might occur inside lava tubes on the Moon and Mars, and how it might be explored, we investigated the Lofthellir Lava Tube Ice Cave, Iceland, and mapped it in 3D with a drone-borne LiDAR [25,26] (Fig. 1). Water Ice in Lava Tubes: Because subsurface cavities on planetary bodies offer shelter from ionizing radiation, meteoritic bombardment, drastic diurnal temperature variations, and surface dust transport, they represent environments radically different from the surface. Caves on Earth may be repositories of perennial H2O ice even if external conditions preclude stable surface ice year-round [1,16]. Analogously, some caves on the Moon and Mars might be volatile-rich. Building on previous studies of thermal conditions inside planetary lava tubes [21], we find that for high latitude skylights on the Moon with permanently shadowed floors, the portion of the cave immediately below the skylight achieves the coldest temperatures (T~4060K), as the open sky overhead maximizes radiative heat loss. If H2O is available in sufficient amounts, H2O ice will accrete immediately below the pit, forming a cap of ice over any existing debris pile on the pit floor (Fig.2). Over time, with continued H2O supply, cold-trapping of ice would expand laterally into the subsurface cavity beyond the skylight area. At Lofthellir, where most of the H2O ice is exogenic, derived from atmospheric H2O either as water vapor or by meteoric precipitation followed by infiltration [25,26], there is ample supply of H2O, and large ice masses occupy the cave. Our field study revealed that this ice is dynamic, forming micro-glaciers with accumulation, flow and ablation/melt zones, and moraines. The rockfall debris loads carried by some micro-glaciers qualify them as microrock glaciers. On the Moon, it remains unknown if sufficient H2O ice mass would accumulate inside high-latitude lava tubes to allow it to creep under its own weight given the extremely low temperatures. The candidate pits in Philolaus and associated rilles are narrow (<50m across), implying small lava tube volumes and limited ice masses per unit section [25,26].

Solar wind interactions with the surfaces of asteroids and small moons eject atoms and molecules from the uppermost several nanometers of regolith grains through a process called sputtering. A small fraction of the sputtered species, called secondary ions, leave the surface in an ionized state, and these are diagnostic of the surface composition. Detection of secondary ions using ion mass spectrometry (IMS) provides a powerful method of analysis due to low backgrounds and high instrument sensitivities. However, the sputtered secondary ion yield and the atomic composition of the surface are not 1‐to‐1 correlated. Thus, relative yield fractions based on experimental measurements are needed to convert measured spectra to surface composition. Here available experimental results are combined with computationally derived solar wind sputtering yields to estimate secondary ion fluxes from asteroid‐sized bodies in the solar system. The Monte Carlo simulation code SDTrimSP is used to estimate the total sputtering yield due to solar wind ion bombardment for a diverse suite of meteorite and lunar soil compositions. Experimentally measured relative secondary ion yields are analyzed to determine the abundance of refractory species (Mg+, Al+, Ca+, and Fe+) relative to Si+, and it is shown that relative abundances indicate whether a body is primitive or has undergone significant geologic reprocessing. Finally, estimates of the sputtered secondary ion fluxes are used to determine the IMS sensitivity required to adequately resolve major element ratios for nominal orbital geometries.

Gullies on Devon Island, High Arctic, which form by melting of transient surface ice and snow covers and offer morphologic and contextual analogs for gullies reported on Mars are reported to display enhancements in biological activity in contrast to surrounding polar desert terrain.

The presented trajectory design and analysis was performed for the Phobos and Deimos & Mars Environment (PADME) mission concept as part of a NASA proposal submission managed by NASA Ames Research Center in the 2014-2015 timeframe. The PADME spacecraft would be a derivative of the successfully flown Lunar Atmosphere & Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft. While LADEE was designed to enter low-lunar orbit, the PADME spacecraft would instead enter an elliptical Mars orbit of 2-week period. This Mars orbit would pass by Phobos near periapsis on successive orbits and then raise periapsis to yield close approaches of Deimos every orbit thereafter.

The proposed Noctis Landing Site/Exploration Zone (LS/EZ) is shown in Figure 1. Our preliminary study suggests that the proposed site meets all key Science and Resources (incl. Civil Engineering) requirements. The site is of significant interest, as the EZ not only offers a large number and wide range of regions of interest (ROIs) for short-term exploration, it is also located strategically at the crossroads between Tharsis and Valles Marineris, which are key for long-term exploration. The proposed site contains Regions of Interest (ROIs) that meet the following Science requirements: -­‐ Access to (1) deposits with a high preservation potential for evidence of past habitability and fossil biosignatures and (2) sites that are promising for present habitability. The site presents a wide variety of ROIs qith likely aqueous features and deposits, including sinous channels and valleys, slope gullies, lobate debris aprons, impact craters with lobate ejecta flows, and bathtub ring deposits. Neutron spectrometry also suggests hydrogen is present within the topmost 0.3 m or so of 4 to 10 wt% WEH (Water Equivalent Hydrogen). -­‐ Noachian and/or Hesperian rocks in a stratigraphic context that have a high likelihood of containing trapped atmospheric gases. Collapsed canyon rim material with preserved stratigraphy is abundantly present and accessible. -­‐ Exposures of at least two crustal units that have regional or global extents, that are suitable for radiometric dating, and that have relative ages that sample a significant range of martian geological time. Canyons floors in Ius Chasma, Tithonium Chasma, and plateau tops on Tharsis and in Sinai Planum offer access to distinct crustal units of regional extent. -­‐ Access to outcrops with linked morphological and/or geochemical signatures indicative of aqueous or groundwater/ mineral interactions. Iron and sulfur-bearing deposits on canyon floors in Noctis Labyrinthus, and in Ius Chasma (IC) and Tithonium Chasma (TC) offer many such outcrop options. -­‐ Identifiable stratigraphic contacts and cross-cutting relationships from which relative ages can be determined. In place and collapsed canyon walls in NL, TC, and IC offer such opportunities. -­‐ Other types of ROIs include access points to surrounding plateau top areas for longer term regional exploration. A key attribute of the proposed Noctic Landing site is its strategic location to allow the shortest possible surface excusions to Tharsis and Valles Marineris (VM). VM is the feature and region on Mars that exposes the longest record of Mars' geology and evolution through time. Tharsis is the region of Mars that has experienced the longest and most extensive volcanic history, and might still be volcanically active. Some of the youngest lava flows on Mars have been identified on the western flanks of the Tharsis Bulge, i.e., within driving range of future longrange (500 - 1000 km) pressurized rover traverses. The proposed site also contains ROIs that offer the following Resources (incl. Civil Engineering) characteristics: -­‐ Access to raw material that exhibits the potential to (1) be used as feedstock for water-generating in situ resource utilization (ISRU) processes and (2) yield significant quantities (greater than 100 MT) of water. The raw material is likely in the form of hydrated minerals, and possibly ice/regolith mix. The top of the raw material deposit is at the surface. -­‐ Access to a region where infrastructure can be emplaced or constructed. This region is less than 5 km from the LS and contains flat, stable terrain. The region exhibits evidence for an abundant source of loose regolith. Several deep pits in the area combined with the availability of sand suggests that some natural terrain features can be adapted for construction purposes. -­‐ Access to raw material that exhibits the potential to be used as metal feedstock for ISRU and construction purposes. Iron and sulfur-rich mineral surface deposits have been identified in CRISM data in many locations in this area. Noctis Landing is the lowest-altitude location on Mars that straddles both the Tharsis region (above average geothermal gradients) and Valles Marineris (minimal crustal thickness from surface (valley floor) to a subsurface liquid water table. Noctis Landing has the potential for being an ideal site for eventual deep drilling on Mars to access deep subsurface liquid water and potentially encountering extant life. Available data remains insufficient to fully qualify the Noctis Landing site. Additional remote sensing data (visible, Near and Mid-IR, and radar) and surface reconnaissance via a high-mobility robotic rover are recommended. In particular, it will be important to assess the trafficability of the site, and its potential for yielding water and metals as a resource. Access to plateau tops from the Noctis Landing site on the canyon floor should be demonstrated. Future exploration of the site would also be enhanced significantly by the availability of robotic (tele-operatable) surveying and sample-collecting drones. Testing of the use of such collaborative science and exploration technologies should be conducted at terrestrial sites such as the Haughton-Mars Project site on Devon Island, High Arctic, among others. Note: Noctis Landing is not an official Mars nomenclature name for this location. Because the area of the proposed LS/EZ had no name, and because it is close to Noctis Labyrinthus to the West while being distinct from it, the provisional name Noctis Landing is proposed. Noctis means night in Latin.

Between April 2009 and July 2011, the NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) led the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition (NWPDX), a multi-staged long-distance crewed rover traverse along the Northwest Passage in the Arctic. In April 2009, the HMP Okarian rover was driven 496 km over sea ice along the Northwest Passage, from Kugluktuk to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada. During the traverse, crew members collected samples from within the rover and from undisturbed snow-covered surfaces around the rover at three locations. The rover samples and snow samples were stored at subzero conditions (-20°C to -1°C) until processed for microbial diversity in labs at the NASA Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The objective was to determine the extent of microbial dispersal away from the rover and onto undisturbed snow. Interior surfaces of the rover were found to be associated with a wide range of bacteria (69 unique taxa) and fungi (16 unique taxa). In contrast, snow samples from the upwind, downwind, uptrack, and downtrack sample sites exterior to the rover were negative for both bacteria and fungi except for two colony-forming units (cfus) recovered from one downwind (1 cfu; site A4) and one uptrack (1 cfu; site B6) sample location. The fungus, Aspergillus fumigatus (GenBank JX517279), and closely related bacteria in the genus Brevibacillus were recovered from both snow (B. agri, GenBank JX517278) and interior rover surfaces. However, it is unknown whether the microorganisms were deposited onto snow surfaces at the time of sample collection (i.e., from the clothing or skin of the human operator) or via airborne dispersal from the rover during the 12-18 h layovers at the sites prior to collection. Results support the conclusion that a crewed rover traveling over previously undisturbed terrain may not significantly contaminate the local terrain via airborne dispersal of propagules from the vehicle.

After 40 years of solar system exploration by spacecraft, the origin of Mars's satellites, remains vexingly unknown. There are three prevailing hypotheses concerning their origin: H1: They are captured small bodies from the outer main belt or beyond; H2: They are reaccreted Mars impact ejecta; H3: They are remnants of Mars' formation. There are many variants of these hypotheses, but as stated, these three capture the key ideas and constraints on their nature. So far, data and modeling have not allowed any one of these hypotheses to be verified or excluded. Each one of these hypotheses has important implications for the evolution of the solar system, the formation and evolution of planets and satellites, and the delivery of water and organics to Early Mars and Early Earth. Determining the origin of Phobos and Deimos is identified by the NASA and the NRC Decadal Survey as the most important science goal at these bodies.

Phobos and Deimos, Mars’ two moons, are associated with significant planetary protection knowledge gaps for human missions, that may be filled by a low cost robotic reconnaissance mission focused on elucidating their origin and volatile content. Introduction: Phobos and Deimos are currently considered to be potentially worthwhile destinations for early human missions to Mars orbit, and possibly in the context of longer term human Mars exploration strategies as well [1] (Fig. 1). Until recently, it was widely considered that planetary protection (PP) concerns associated with the exploration of Phobos and Deimos would be fundamentally no different from those associated with the exploration of primitive NEAs [2], as the preponderance of scientific evidence suggested that 1) there was never liquid water on Phobos and Deimos, except possibly very early in their history; 2) there is no metabolically useful energy source except near their heavily irradiated surface; 3) there was likely never sufficient organic matter on or in these bodies to support life within the zone where metabolically useful energy is available, because of space radiation; 4) subsequent to the disappearance of liquid water, these bodies have not been subjected to extreme temperatures (i.e., > 160C), except near the irradiated surface zone as a result of impacts; 5) there is, and was, sufficient irradiation for biological sterilization of terrestrial life form near the surface; and 6) there has likely been a natural influx to Earth, via meteorites, of material equivalent to a sample returned from the target body. However, two recent developments relating to the origin of Phobos and Deimos are prompting a revisit of PP assessments for these bodies: Giant Impact Hypothesis. In addition to the two classical hypotheses concerning the origin of Phobos and Deimos (namely that they might be captured small bodies from the outer main belt, or remnants of Mars’ formation), a third hypothesis is now commonly cited: that they might be reaccreted Mars Impact ejecta. The latter includes the possibility that Phobos and/or Deimos formed less than 0.5 Ga ago, and are made of Martian crustal material ejected from Mars’s nearsurface environment by a large impact. Given the possibility of this scenario (if not its plausibility: giant impacts are unlikely in recent times), it can no longer be said with the same confidence that there is a preponderance of evidence for the six inferences listed above. Figure 1: Deimos (left) and Phobos (right), to scale. Deimos is 15 km long, and Phobos, 27 km long. Both moons have, to first order, a D-type spectrum: they are very dark (albedo ~ 0.07) and very red. (NASA MRO).

NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) is a challenging mission to capture and bring back either an entire asteroid (Option A) or a large boulder from the surface of an asteroid (Option B) to a cislunar orbit. Options A and B have a range of risks; one of them relates to the unknown strength of the asteroid or boulder. This paper describes methods of estimating asteroid regolith strength and density, and the strength of boulders, using kinetic impactors: Thumpers and Shotgun. Thumpers are large, instrumented kinetic impactors specifically designed to measure regolith strength during impact deceleration. The Shotgun system, on the other hand, uses a large number of small projectiles (“balls”) fired at low velocity at the surface of the asteroid or at the boulder. If a ball impacts regolith, it will create a crater whose size is a function of regolith strength and density. If a ball impacts a coherent boulder, it will bounce back at a certain speed, whose value is proportional to rock strength. If the rebound speed cannot be measured, hollow balls packed with retroreflectors could be used instead (similar to paintballs). The shell of balls can be designed to crack open and release retroreflectors when impacting rock above the threshold strength required for successful boulder retrieval. This paper describes the concepts of Thumpers and Shotgun and demonstrates their feasibility through a series of experiments. These methods leverage many of the advantages of in-situ measurements of target properties- particularly the ability to accurately determine geotechnical measurements- at a considerably reduced cost and implementation effort, and will enable significant risk buy-down on the scope of the ARM mission.

Exploring and interrogating the shallow subsurface of Mars from the surface will require some form of excavation and penetration, with drilling being the most mature approach. The latest LITA drill, designed for use at the Atacama Desert Chilean analog site, was recently tested at the same Arctic site (Haughton Crater) as have a series of past NASA drill prototypes since 2004. Unlike previous tested prototypes, the smaller LITA did not demonstrate a capability of penetrating hard rock or ice-consolidated material at the Drill Hill test site.

The paper provides the current understanding of the dust particle dynamics near the surface and in the circummatrian space of the Martian moons based on existing models developed for airless and non-magnetized bodies. In particular we discuss the response of the regolith of the Martian moons to exposure to radiation, the dynamics of charged dust on their surfaces, their plasma environments, the models and indirect observations of their putative dust tori. It is concluded that there is a good theoretical understanding of the behavior of the dynamics of dust particles near the moons Phobos and Deimos. Current models predict dust rings near orbits of the Martian moons based on detailed estimates for the sources and sinks of the dust particles as well as their lifetimes. However, there is no compelling observational evidence for the predicted dust torus around Phobos or Deimos orbits, and there are no observations yet of dust dynamics near their surfaces. Naturally, in order to detect the motion of dust near the surfaces of these moons, and their dust tori we need measurements using a complementary set of sensitive instruments, including impart dust detectors, electric field sensors, and optical cameras in future missions to Mars and its moons.