Japan successfully launched a spacecraft toward Mars on Tuesday, October 20, beginning an ambitious five-year mission to collect material from one of the planet’s moons and return it to Earth for the first time.
The Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft lifted off aboard Japan’s H3 rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan at 4:41 a.m. local time.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed that the spacecraft separated successfully from the rocket approximately 71 minutes after launch.
The mission aims to collect samples from Phobos, the larger of Mars’ two moons, and return them to Earth in 2031.
Scientists Hope to Solve the Mystery of Mars’ Moons
The spacecraft is expected to reach Mars in August 2027, when it will begin studying Phobos and Deimos, the planet’s two natural satellites.
Scientists have long debated how these moons formed.
One theory suggests they are asteroids captured by Mars’ gravity, while another proposes they formed from debris following a massive collision involving the planet.
By studying material collected directly from Phobos, researchers hope to better understand the moons’ origins and the early history of the solar system.
JAXA plans to collect at least 10 grams of surface material from Phobos.
The samples will be placed in a return capsule designed to travel back to Earth, where scientists will examine them in specialized laboratories.
Phobos is an irregularly shaped moon measuring approximately 27 kilometers along its longest dimension.
It orbits just 6,000 kilometers above the Martian surface, completing approximately three orbits around the planet every Earth day.
The mission could provide valuable information about the formation of planets and the movement of materials, including water and organic compounds, during the early stages of the solar system.
NASA and European Space Agencies Join Japan’s Mission
Although Japan is leading the MMX project, the mission involves international cooperation with NASA and European space agencies.
A French-German rover named Idefix is traveling aboard the spacecraft and is expected to land on Phobos around late 2028 or early 2029.
The small rover will investigate the moon’s surface and help scientists prepare for the spacecraft’s sampling operation.
The rover is expected to operate for approximately 100 days.
NASA is also contributing scientific instruments and expertise to the mission.
The project has an estimated budget of approximately $578 million, according to the Associated Press.
The successful launch represents an important achievement for Japan’s H3 rocket, which experienced a failure during its inaugural flight in 2023.
It is the rocket’s first interplanetary mission.
If successful, MMX would become the first mission to return samples from a moon of Mars, providing scientists with material that has never previously been examined directly in laboratories on Earth.
The findings could also support future exploration of Mars and improve scientists’ understanding of the conditions that shaped the early solar system.
