Japan Aims for Mars' Moons to Unlock Clues to Origins of the Solar System
The mission will collect at least 10 grams of Phobos material and test a return capsule for future crewed Mars flights.
- The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency plans to launch the unmanned Martian Moons eXploration spacecraft from Tanegashima Space Center in the coming months to orbit Mars and land on Phobos.
- Scientists aim to determine whether the Martian moons formed from a "giant impact" or were "captured" asteroids, seeking to reveal "how a habitable environment for life might have arisen on the terrestrial planets," JAXA said.
- Mitsubishi Electric engineer Akinari Uehara said landing proved difficult: "We have to prevent the from falling down, by having the legs cushion the impact of landing." MMX will collect at least 10 grams of material from Phobos.
- The mission faces uncertainty after President Donald Trump's administration effectively cancelled it following a January Congress vote, complicating the race against China's Tianwen-3, scheduled to return Martian samples around 2031.
- Beyond sample collection, MMX could lay groundwork for human Mars visits by establishing technology for using Phobos as a "natural space station," which JAXA deems "essential for crewed Mars exploration.
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Malay Mail
AlKhaleej TodayJapan’s mission to Mars’ moons seeks clues to origins of Solar System, life on Earth
TOKYO, Aug 17 — Japanese scientists are readying a mission to Mars’ moons to retrieve samples that may unlock the origins of the Solar System and life on Earth, although a rival Chinese mission aims to make it back first.The unmanned Martian Moons eXploration (MMX), set to blast off from Tanegashima Space Center in the coming months, could also lay the groundwork for humans visiting the red planet.The spacecraft, revealed to media last Thursday,…
Japan Plans Mission To Explore Mars’ Moons
What if the key to understanding how life began is hiding on one of Mars’ tiny moons?Japan is preparing to find out. Its Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is due to launch soon, with the spacecraft planning to orbit Mars for about three years. Before landing on Phobos and collecting at least 10 grams of material.It will also study Deimos before sending the precious samples back to Earth around 2031. Why Phobos? Scientists still debate whet…
The research may reveal the origins of the solar system and life on Earth.
The Japanese Aerospace Agency (JAXA) is about to launch in the coming months an unmanned mission, Martian Moons eXploration (MMX), in partnership with the French of CNES Engineers
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