America's space agency is co-sponsoring in early November the first international conference to consider sending robots and humans to Deimos and Phobos -- the two moons of Mars.

Many scientists think the satellites are captured asteroids that originated in the outer solar system, and NASA is thinking of putting together a mission to find out for sure.

The exploratory conference will take place at the NASA Ames Research Center in California. The scientists will explain new ideas on probing the two moons, as well as how to use the them as a gateway for exploring the Red Planet.

From the human exploration perspective, scientists and engineers are to delve into what an expeditionary crew might do on Phobos and Deimos -- and how to use those mini-worlds to help investigate Mars, plus what precursor robotic missions that might be needed will be addressed.

Russia is already spearheading a multi-nation project to explore Phobos, dubbed the Phobos-Grunt mission, a sample return effort projected for 2009.

Phobos is the larger of the two moons and is the closest to Mars. So close, in fact, it stands to be torn apart by gravitational forces in the far-distant future.