In about20 to 70 million years , it ’s remember that the Martian moon Phobos will be torn aside as it moves nearer to Mars , make a annulus of rubble around the Red Planet similar to the satellite Saturn .

But two research worker from the Physical Research Laboratory in India have get grounds that this procedure has already begun . They suggest the major planet may already be developing a proto - band arrangement , with their determination published in the journalIcarus .

Jayesh Pabari and P. J. Bhalodi used data from NASA’sMAVEN spacecraft(Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN Mission ) , which entered orbit around Mars in September 2014 , to learn the atmospheric theme of the Martian atmosphere .

They found that there was a cloud of dust palisade the satellite at an altitude of 150 to 1,000 kilometers ( 90 to 620 mi ) above the surface , mostly made up of interplanetary dust . Mars and its moon are also thought to cast off speck when they ’re hit by asteroids , although these likely get carry away by solar farting .

But the dust cloud was also constitute to have a small amount of stuff , about 0.6 percent of its composition , that came from one of the two moon . They suggest this could be the commencement of a ring forming that would remain for the planet ’s life . “ The secondary ejecta from natural planet of Mars can induce a dust mob or torus around Mars and remain present for its lifetime , ” they wrote in their report .

The arena of Phobos is degrading by about 2 metre ( 6.5 metrical foot ) every one C , with two possible termination . In about 20 million years or more , it will either gate-crash into the Martian surface   or be broken apart into a ring , depending on how solid it is .

That latter scenario now look somewhat plausible , with bit of this moon – or mayhap its companion , Deimos – already orbiting the major planet . At the very least , it may leave behind a slender ring .

However , the idea that Mars is already forming a ring is litigious . MAVEN is not specifically designed to attend for dust , and with no space vehicle having been sent to Mars to do so , we can only tie free conclusions .

“ To really say anything definitive about the rubble , you really call for to have a dedicated rubble detector , ” Laila Anderssen , from the University of Colorado Boulder , toldNew Scientist . “ We still have n’t seen a good indication that there is significant fabric in the neighborhood of the Moon . So I think it ’s a long injection [ … ] , but one should never say never . ”