At least 10 grams of material from Phobos could be returned to Earth in 2031<\/p>\n
Japan\u2019s space agency has launched a mission aimed at becoming the first to land on one of Mars\u2019 moons and return samples from its surface to Earth.
\nAn H3 rocket carrying the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft lifted off from Tanegashima Space Center on Monday, according to a live broadcast by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
\nIf the mission proceeds as planned, at least 10 grams of material from Phobos will be returned to Earth in 2031, with the first landing operation scheduled for around two years from now.
\nNo spacecraft has ever successfully landed on Phobos or Mars\u2019 smaller moon, Deimos. The USSR launched two probes in 1988, but neither completed its mission.
\nPhobos 1 was lost before reaching Mars after an erroneous command from Earth disabled its attitude-control system. Phobos 2 spent nearly two months observing Mars and Phobos before a communications failure ended the mission, preventing it from deploying two small landers.<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s subsequent Fobos-Grunt sample-return mission failed in 2011 when the spacecraft\u2019s propulsion system failed to send it out of Earth\u2019s orbit toward Mars.
\nJAXA plans for MMX to reach Mars in August or September 2027 and begin observations before deploying a rover in late 2028 or early 2029. The spacecraft carries a 25-kilogram French-German rover named IDEFIX, which will be dropped onto Phobos to study its surface for around 100 days. The main spacecraft will then attempt two landings to collect samples. MMX is also expected to fly past Deimos in 2030 before its return module heads back to Earth.<\/p>\n
JAXA unveiled the Martian Moons eXploration spacecraft in August 2026.<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a0 Yuika Kawazoe\/Kyodo News via AP <\/p>\n
Landing on Phobos presents a major technical challenge. The moon measures just 27 kilometers across its longest dimension, and its gravitational pull is too weak for conventional close-orbit operations. Instead, MMX will synchronize its orbit around Mars with that of Phobos, effectively becoming a \u201cquasi-satellite\u201d of the moon.
\nScientists hope the samples will help establish whether Phobos formed from debris thrown into orbit by a massive impact on Mars or is an asteroid captured by the planet\u2019s gravity.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Why is America struggling to return to the Moon?<\/p>\n
Martian soil and rock samples have been collected and analyzed on the planet\u2019s surface by several previous missions. NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover has also preserved samples for eventual return to Earth, but the retrieval mission planned jointly with the European Space Agency lost its funding earlier this year.
\nChina\u2019s Tianwen-3 mission could return samples collected directly from Mars to Earth as early as 2031.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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