JAXA Targets Oct. 19 MMX Launch for Mars Moon Sample Return, With NASA Taking 15%
Updated
Updated · Science@NASA · Oct 15
JAXA Targets Oct. 19 MMX Launch for Mars Moon Sample Return, With NASA Taking 15%
3 articles · Updated · Science@NASA · Oct 15
Summary
Oct. 19 is the target launch date for JAXA’s MMX mission from Tanegashima, starting a plan to study Phobos and Deimos and bring a Phobos sample back to Earth in 2031.
The mission aims to settle a long-running debate over whether Mars’ moons are captured asteroids or debris from a giant impact, using orbital measurements and returned material.
NASA is supplying the MEGANE spectrograph, Deep Space Network support and a pneumatic sampler that uses nitrogen gas to gather surface material alongside JAXA’s deeper core sampler.
About 15% of the returned sample will go to NASA’s Johnson Space Center for curation and long-term research, extending a U.S.-Japan partnership tied to future Mars exploration.
MMX is scheduled to reach Mars in August 2027 and attempt surface sampling no earlier than December 2028, with the results expected to clarify early inner solar system history.
As the MMX mission launches in days, what violent secrets about the early solar system lie buried beneath Phobos' largest crater?
With Phobos possibly being a fragile rubble pile, could shooting high-pressure gas to collect samples accidentally destabilize the Martian moon's surface?