Japan Launches Mission to Retrieve Samples from One of Mars' Moons
Japan has launched an unmanned spacecraft toward Mars' moon Phobos to collect and return samples to Earth in 2031.
Translated by Qiyas from الراي — Original source
Japan launched an unmanned spacecraft toward Phobos, one of Mars’ moons, on a mission aimed at being the first to collect samples from this small rocky body and return them to Earth for analysis.
The spacecraft, named Martian Moons eXploration (MMX), operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), lifted off on an H3 rocket before dawn on Tuesday from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan.
The spacecraft is expected to reach Mars in August 2027 and return the samples to Earth in 2031.
Phobos, the larger of Mars’ two moons, orbits the planet three times a day. It has an irregular shape and orbits at an altitude of approximately 6,000 kilometers above the Martian surface.
JAXA aims to collect at least 10 grams of material from its surface and return it to Earth for analysis.
This launch marks the first interplanetary mission for Japan’s H3 rocket. The country’s flagship rocket suffered a high-profile failure during its maiden flight in 2023 when the second-stage engine failed to ignite, but it has since completed a series of launches, most of which were successful.
