Japan Launches MMX Mission to Mars's Moon Phobos — SkimNews
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- JAXA's MMX spacecraft launches on 20 October from Tanegashima Space Center toward Phobos, with arrival at Mars expected in August 2027 to orbit alongside the moon and build a detailed surface map.
- MMX will also observe Deimos during its orbital survey, then conduct one or two brief landings to deploy instruments and collect samples.
- During landing, MMX will deploy the IDEFIX rover — the first wheeled rover placed on such a small cosmic body — with part of its mission confirming whether wheeled rovers function in such low gravity.
- MMX carries two sampling devices: one that fires gas to blow surface dust and pebbles into a container, and another that drives a hollow cylinder several centimeters into the ground.
- Returned samples, expected back on Earth in 2031, aim to settle whether Phobos and Deimos are captured asteroids or formed from a Mars impact — a debate that has run for over a century.
- NASA scientist Tom Statler said the samples could illuminate the early solar system when inner planets may have been acquiring much of their water and organic compounds.
- Phobos samples may also contain preserved Martian dust launched into space by impacts, potentially illuminating the history of Mars itself.
Why it matters: Scientists have debated Phobos and Deimos's origin for over a century — captured asteroid versus Mars impact — unresolved by remote observation alone. Samples returning in 2031 would deliver the first ground-truth composition data and potentially trapped Martian surface material, clarifying how inner planets acquired water and organics in the early solar system.
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