Mission set to blast off for Mars to grab a piece of its moon
Japan’s space agency is preparing to launch the MMX mission to collect dust from Phobos, Mars’s larger moon, and return it to Earth. If successful, it would be the first sample returned from Mars or either of its moons, giving scientists material to investigate how the moons formed.
The spacecraft is due to reach Phobos in August 2027, study Deimos on the way, and deploy a rover to help find a landing site. It aims to collect about 10g of material and return it in a capsule landing in South Australia in 2031. Scientists hope its chemistry and minerals will show whether the moons formed from debris after an impact on Mars or were asteroids captured by the planet; the sample may also contain grains from Mars.
- Japan’s MMX mission aims to collect material from Phobos.
- About 10g is due back on Earth in 2031.
- The sample could reveal how Mars’s moons formed.