The rock vapor can come from meteoritic entry, as is seen in meteoritic micro-spherules often collected from gutters here on Earth, or

FROM IMPACT

Remember Mars has little atmosphere and about 1/3 Earth gravity, while the energies involved in creating craters are roughly the same.

On Earth, in a hyper-velocity asteroid or comet impact the atmosphere reaches a comperssion maximum, and material is ejected along the pressure column. Mars' atmosphere is closer to a vacuum - the ejection paths will differ.

On Earth, rock vapor produced by asteroid or comet impact condenses into tektites, which are re-shaped through being subjected to atmospheric re-entry pressures. On Mars, there will be radiative cooling...

These aren't f****** easter eggs, and by the way,

It's way past the right time to get behind Mazanek's plan for using the Moon to find these things...

ep