Japan launches historic MMX sample-return mission to Mars' moon Phobos (video)
Japan just launched an epic mission to Mars' moons that could make history as the first spacecraft to return to Earth from the Red Planet — and it plans to come back with samples onboard.
Japan has launched a groundbreaking mission to explore Mars' two mysterious moons, Phobos and Deimos, with the goal of retrieving samples for analysis on Earth. The Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission blasted off from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan aboard an H3 rocket, completing a successful ascent and deploying its payload.
The MMX spacecraft will spend approximately three years studying Phobos, gathering samples before returning to Mars' orbit. Following two landings on Phobos, the spacecraft will transfer to a larger orbit around Mars, where it will perform flybys of Deimos before departing Earth in November 2030, with the sample-return capsule touching down in Australia in 2031.
This international collaboration between Japan, NASA, and the European Space Agency aims to unravel the moons' origins, shedding light on Mars' geological past and the early history of our solar system.
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