[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# Deimos's shape and geology explained by a subcatastrophic impact

Raducan et al., 2026, Nature Astronomy — Astronomy

Patterns: [Distinctions](https://dsrpevidence.org/pattern/distinctions), [Relationships](https://dsrpevidence.org/pattern/relationships)

## In short

The finding turns on a sharp contrast between Deimos's smooth, weak, porous surface and that of its sibling moon Phobos and the Moon's regolith, resolved by identifying a single causal impact event as the driver of the observed features.

## What they found (results)

Impact simulations show an oblique strike by a roughly 320-meter-diameter projectile can reproduce Deimos's single large south-polar depression, its global regolith layer, and its surface bright streaks, implying an extremely weak, highly porous interior unlike the heavily cratered Phobos.

These researchers were not testing DSRP. The finding is theirs; the correspondence to DSRP is drawn by this site.

[Source](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02956-w)