Japan launches MMX, the first mission to bring back samples from a moon of Mars
An H3 rocket lifted off from Tanegashima at 04:41 Japan time on 20 October and released the MMX probe into its planned orbit. The spacecraft is due to reach Mars's moon Phobos in 2027, put a rover on its surface and return samples to Earth in 2031.
Japan's space agency JAXA launched its Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft on Tuesday aboard H3 flight No. 10 from the Tanegashima Space Center. Liftoff came at 04:41:03 local time on 20 October (22:41 on 19 October, Bucharest time). JAXA said the rocket flew as planned and that the probe separated about 71 minutes after launch and entered its intended orbit. The project manager, Makoto Arita, described the orbit insertion as exceptionally precise.
MMX is set to reach Mars in 2027 and spend several years studying its two small moons, Phobos and Deimos. It will put a small rover, built with the French and German space agencies, on Phobos and then collect rock and soil from the surface. If all goes well, the samples will land on Earth in 2031. It would be the first time material has been brought back from the Mars system.
Scientists hope the samples will settle whether Phobos is a captured asteroid or debris thrown off Mars by an ancient impact, a question that bears on how water and the building blocks of life reached the inner Solar System. The mission builds on Japan's Hayabusa and Hayabusa2 asteroid sample returns, and NASA and ESA are also partners.