TOKYO, Japan / AsiaWire.IO / – Japan has initiated a mission to explore Mars’ enigmatic moons and bring back samples to Earth by launching a spacecraft aimed at the Red Planet. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency deployed the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) probe into space atop an H3 rocket launched from the Tanegashima Space Center. The launch occurred early Tuesday morning, October 20, at 04:41 local time, with five space agencies collaborating on this five-year endeavor.
The primary goal of MMX is to land both a robotic prospecting device and a rover on Phobos, which is the larger and closer of Mars’ two small moons. Success in this mission would make it the first spacecraft to orbit Phobos, the first to collect surface samples from it, and the first to return material to Earth from within the Mars system. JAXA is leading this project, working in partnership with NASA, France’s CNES, Germany’s DLR, and the European Space Agency. Confirmation of the spacecraft’s separation from the rocket was received following the launch.
The scientific community hopes that the data gathered will help clarify the origins of Phobos and Deimos, with the giant impact hypothesis suggesting that these moons formed after a large object struck Mars, while the capture hypothesis posits that they are remnants of asteroids from the outer Solar System captured by Mars’ gravity. Observations from orbit combined with the analysis of returned samples are expected to provide insights into which of these theories is correct.
Global partners contribute rover and scientific instruments
The French and German space agencies developed IDEFIX, a rover weighing less than 30 kg, which will land on Phobos prior to the main spacecraft’s arrival; its objectives include testing the surface’s mechanical response and demonstrating wheeled mobility. NASA contributed MEGANE, a neutron and gamma-ray spectrometer, to the mission. The spacecraft is equipped with seven scientific instruments, one of which is an infrared spectrometer created through a partnership with CNES.
Europe plays a vital role in communications, providing a transponder and a power amplifier for deep-space links, and utilizing ESA’s Estrack ground station network to transmit commands and gather data. ESA Director of Science Carole Mundell congratulated JAXA and the MMX team on the successful launch, while Elliot Sefton-Nash, the project scientist for MMX at the agency, commended the H3 launcher’s performance in propelling the spacecraft into space.
Sample collection scheduled for 2031 in Australia
The spacecraft is projected to reach the vicinity of Mars approximately one year after launch, where it will examine Phobos from a quasi-satellite orbit and evaluate landing sites before touchdown. Utilizing two tools, MMX will gather at least 10 grams of material: a coring sampler attached to a robotic arm will target regolith more than 2 cm beneath the surface, and a pneumatic sampler will fire pressurized gas to push soil into a container. During its mission, MMX will also observe Deimos, the smaller Martian moon, during a flyby, before departing the Mars system for a return journey of about one year. The collected samples are expected to be returned to Earth in 2031, with recovery planned in Australia. The mission was first announced by JAXA in 2015, with development beginning in 2020, initially targeting a 2024 launch before the schedule was adjusted to 2026.