Japan launches spacecraft on historic Mars moon mission
The probe is set to land on Mars moon Phobos, where it will collect at least 10 grams of material during its mission. Scientists hope it will reveal how the planet Mars and its two moons formed.
On Monday, Japan will launch the inaugural Mars-bound spacecraft designed for a return trip, the Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) mission. Led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) with NASA as a collaborator, the rocket will depart from Tanegashima Space Center at 3:41 p.m. ET on October 19, or 4:41 a.m. Tuesday in Japan. The MMX spacecraft aims to explore Mars' two small moons, Phobos and Deimos, orbiting the Red Planet next August.
The mission's primary objective is to collect soil samples from Phobos and transport them back to Earth, with a landing scheduled for no earlier than December 2028. Scientists anticipate that the samples could provide insights into the origins of Mars' moons. Mars' gravitational pull might have captured passing asteroids or a significant impact could have ejected debris that formed the moons.
Understanding these processes will yield valuable information about both Mars and Earth, including the events that shaped them billions of years ago.
NASA, a partner in the mission, will receive at least 15% of the returned specimens. The U.S. space agency has invested approximately $87 million over 14 years into the project. The MMX spacecraft comprises three modules: one to reach Mars, one to land on Phobos, and one to return the sample to Earth. A Japanese capsule will bring the samples back to Earth, landing in Australia, where they will be analyzed by scientists from Japan and its mission partners.
Written by urgent.news from Mashable's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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