Japanese space mission aims to return Mars moon sample to Earth
The Japanese Space Agency will launch a spacecraft on Monday to collect samples from Mars' moon Phobos and bring them back for analysis.
Launch and arrival timeline
The MMX mission is scheduled to blast off from Japan. The spacecraft will travel to the Martian system and reach Phobos in August 2027. This journey marks the first attempt to retrieve material from Mars or its moons for Earth-based laboratories.
Scientific objectives and targets
The primary goal is to solve the mystery of how Mars's moons formed. The spacecraft will also study Deimos before focusing its efforts on Phobos. A small rover will be set down to explore the terrain, though landing there has never been done successfully.
Size and shape of moons
Phobos measures about 20km across while Deimos is approximately 10km wide. Both bodies are irregularly shaped and resemble space potatoes rather than perfect spheres. Their low gravity makes landing a rover on them particularly difficult.
Reported by one outlet
Only one outlet has published this. Nothing here has been checked against a second report, so read it as that outlet's account and follow the link below for the original.
Reported by
1 independent outlet. Headline as published. Links open the original report.