Japan's MMX mission aims to swipe soil samples from Mars's moon Phobos

A Japanese space mission named MMX, or Martian Moons Exploration, is set to launch towards Mars on Monday, October 19 at 20:41 BST from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. The mission aims to orbit and explore Phobos, the larger of Mars' two moons. After a five-year journey, MMX will deploy a lander to touch down on Phobos and collect soil and small pebbles from its surface.

In a groundbreaking move, these Martian samples will be delivered to Earth for scientific analysis. Led by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) in collaboration with the US, France, Germany, and ESA, the mission's primary goal is to uncover the origins of Mars' moons, Deimos being the smaller of the two. Scientists also want to study the evolution of Mars and its surrounding environment.

The mission's success hinges on retrieving Phobos' chemical composition, which could help differentiate between theories about the moon's formation, including whether it originated as asteroids captured by Mars' gravity or material ejected from a collision with Mars. Despite previous failed attempts, such as Russia's Phobos Grunt mission in 2011, Jaxa has demonstrated its capability to return samples from asteroids.

The mission will face challenges such as Phobos' low gravity, affecting the sampling techniques. Additionally, the mission will test communication with a new ground station. After launching and arriving at Mars in August 2027, MMX will circle the planet for a year before entering orbit around Phobos. The spacecraft is equipped with 13 scientific instruments, including high-resolution cameras, a laser altimeter, an infrared spectrograph, and a gamma-ray and neutron detector.

In early 2029, the mission will deploy a rover called Idefix to analyze Phobos' surface. In 2030, MMX's exploration module will land on Phobos, collect samples, and return to Earth in 2031, potentially bringing back material from Mars as well.