Japan’s space agency JAXA has launched the Martian Moons eXploration spacecraft, the first mission designed to collect a sample from a Martian moon and bring it back to Earth.
MMX lifted off aboard H3 Launch Vehicle Flight No. 10 from Tanegashima Space Center at 4:41 a.m. Japan time Tuesday — 12:41 p.m. Monday in Arizona. The spacecraft separated about 71 minutes after liftoff and reached its planned orbit, JAXA said.
MMX is expected to reach Mars in summer 2027 and orbit Phobos, the larger of Mars’ two moons. Around the turn of 2028-29 it will release Idefix, a 25-kilogram rover built by Germany’s DLR and France’s CNES, which will explore the surface for about 100 days.
The main spacecraft will then land on Phobos to collect at least 10 grams of material and return it in a capsule to Earth in 2031. Scientists hope the samples reveal whether Phobos and Deimos are captured asteroids or debris from a giant impact on Mars.
NASA contributed the MEGANE instrument, built by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, to map the moon’s elemental makeup. The European Space Agency is also a partner.
Sources: JAXA, ESA, DLR, NASA. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
