Japan is preparing to launch the worldʼs first mission to bring soil samples from Phobos — one of Marsʼ two moons — back to Earth.
The Guardian writes about this.
The Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission spacecraft is scheduled to launch on Tuesday, October 20, aboard a Japanese H3 rocket.
A spacecraft that Japan plans to launch to explore the moons of Mars.
Yuika Kawazoe / Kyodo News
The mission is intended to help scientists figure out where Phobos and Marsʼ second moon — Deimos — came from. There are two main theories: they could have formed from debris after a large celestial body collided with Mars, or they could have been asteroids captured by the planetʼs gravity.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) says that soil analysis from Phobos can provide an almost unambiguous answer to this question.
Scientists also hope to find particles from Mars itself in the samples. JAXA estimates that about 0.1% of the material on the surface of Phobos could be from Mars. This could potentially help to learn more about the history of the Red Planet and even search for traces of ancient microbial life.
Marsʼ moon Phobos.
MMX will reach the Mars region around August 2027. After that, it will spend several years exploring Phobos and fly by Deimos.
Before the main landing, the Franco-German rover Idefix is scheduled to land on Phobos. It will explore the surface and help select a safe location for soil sampling.
The Japanese spacecraft plans to land on Phobos twice and collect at least 10 grams of soil. To do this, they will use two methods: the American device will lift the dust with compressed gas, and the Japanese mechanism will take samples from a depth of about two centimeters.
After that, the capsule with the samples will travel back to Earth and, as planned, will land in Australia in 2031.
JAXA says that studying Phobos could also be useful for future human flights to Mars: its moons could potentially be used as staging bases for expeditions to the Red Planet.
- Since the 1960s, dozens of exploration missions have been launched to Mars, but its moons have remained a mystery. Russia has launched spacecraft to Phobos several times, most notably in 2011, but without success.
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