Researchers eventually would show that the damage wasn't due to surface activities alone. (scientificamerican.com)
Related: Swiss Cheese and Dust Devils: 7 High - Resolution Shots of Surface Activity on Mars [Slide Show] (scientificamerican.com)
According to James Kaler, however, «Variations caused by surface activity lead to a rotation period of 4.0 days, which when compared with the projected equatorial velocity (2.8 kilometers per second) allows the axial and presumably orbital tilts to be found, which in turn allows for a true estimation of mass and shows the dim companion to be a cool - end class M dwarf with a mass of 0.15 Suns, placing it well above the brown dwarf limit of 0.075 solar masses...» (more). (solstation.com)