Japan unveils MMX mission to sample Phobos launching October 19
Japan just revealed its Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, aiming to collect samples from Phobos, one of Mars's tiny moons.
The launch is set for October 19 on an H3 rocket, after a delay thanks to earlier rocket hiccups, but now perfectly timed with the Mars-Earth transfer window that wraps up November 7.
MMX to study Phobos and Deimos
MMX will spend a year getting to Mars, where it will study both Phobos and Deimos.
A small French-German rover called Idefix will land on Phobos for some hands-on science, and the main spacecraft will scoop up about 10gm of moon material to bring home by 2031.
This is not the first-ever attempt to return samples from the Mars system, and scientists hope it will help solve whether these moons are leftovers from a giant collision or captured asteroids, pretty big questions about our solar system's history.