Japan has embarked on one of the most ambitious deep-space missions ever attempted, launching the Mars Moons Exploration mission, or MMX, from the Tanegashima Space Center on Tuesday morning local time, the Wall Street Journal reported. The mission seeks to do what no other space power has managed: land on Mars's mysterious moon Phobos and bring samples of its surface back to Earth.
The five-year round trip will see MMX arrive near Mars in August 2027 for an extended period of observation before sampling operations begin. If all goes well, a capsule carrying fragments of Phobos will land in Australia in 2031, delivering the first samples ever collected from a moon of Mars for laboratory analysis, according to Japan's space agency, JAXA.
“When we were working on Nozomi, exploring Mars still felt like a distant dream. This time, after all the preparation, it feels as though we are finally ready,” said Hideaki Miyamoto, a University of Tokyo professor leading the mission's geological investigations, referring to the failed Mars mission he worked on three decades ago. NASA, which contributed some $87 million along with key hardware, and European agencies are collaborating on the mission, and NASA scientist Tom Statler serves as MMX program executive.
JAXA has spent around $350 million to get this far. Phobos is a dark, misshapen lump about 27 kilometres in diameter orbiting the red planet in a puzzlingly close-to-perfect circle, and scientists hope its samples will yield new insights about Mars, its moons and the origins of the solar system, Reuters reported. The mission still faces major technical risks, including navigation, landing, sample collection and the long journey home.
The mission still faces numerous technical risks, including navigation around the lumpy moon, landing, sample collection and the long journey home. JAXA has spent around $350 million to get this far, with NASA pitching in some $87 million plus key hardware. If everything proceeds successfully, researchers will begin detailed laboratory analysis of the collected material in 2031, potentially providing new clues about how our solar system formed, Reuters reported.