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MMX mission to Mars’ moons set to launch on 19 October, with NASA tools to sample Phobos

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The MMX mission, Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration spacecraft, is targeting launch from JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center at 3:41 pm EDT on 19 October (4:41 am JST on 20 October; 1:11 am IST on 20 October), NASA said. It will study Mars’ two moons, Phobos and Deimos, and bring a sample of Phobos back to Earth. JAXA leads the mission, and NASA is a key partner.

MMX mission: Mars' moon Phobos photographed in colour from about 6,800 km by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Mars' moon Phobos photographed in colour from about 6,800 km by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona (public domain).

What the MMX mission will do at Phobos

The spacecraft is due to reach Mars in August 2027 and survey both moons, NASA said. After studying Phobos in detail, it will collect a sample from the surface no earlier than December 2028 and deliver it to Earth in 2031. In Japan, the launch is scheduled for the early hours of 20 October. JAXA’s launch notice confirms the H3 rocket flight No. 10 timing, and ESA also lists the 19 October date. Scientists have long argued over where the moons came from. Tom Statler, NASA’s MMX programme scientist, said they may be debris from a huge impact on Mars or ancient asteroids captured by the planet’s gravity.

Key Facts

  • Launch target: 19 Oct, 3:41 pm EDT (1:11 am IST, 20 Oct)
  • Site: Tanegashima Space Center, Japan; rocket: H3 F10
  • Mars arrival: Aug 2027
  • Sample collection: no earlier than Dec 2028; return: 2031
  • NASA share of sample: about 15%

“Phobos and Deimos may be the remains of a massive impact on Mars that sent material into orbit around the planet, or they could be ancient asteroids that were captured by Mars' gravity billions of years ago.”

— Tom Statler, NASA MMX program scientist

NASA's MEGANE instrument and sampler

NASA’s contributions include the MEGANE spectrograph, named after the Japanese word for eyeglasses, which will measure neutrons and gamma rays coming off Phobos to work out what it is made of. NASA also provided the Pneumatic Sampler, or P-Sampler, a technology demonstration mounted on a landing leg that uses bursts of high-pressure nitrogen gas to gather surface material. It complements JAXA’s C-Sampler, which will extract material from a few inches deeper. NASA will receive and curate about 15 per cent of the returned sample at Johnson Space Center in Houston, and its Deep Space Network will support communications and navigation. NASA also funds US scientists who are part of the MMX science team.

Why a Phobos sample return matters

Nicky Fox, head of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said the samples will bring paradigm-shifting science about the Mars system as NASA prepares to send the first humans to Mars. Knowing the moons’ origin could also shed light on the early period when Earth and the other inner planets may have gained much of their water and organic compounds, Statler said. MEGANE was built by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and the sampler by Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin company. NASA’s contributions were developed under its Discovery Program, which is managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. If the launch goes ahead, MMX would be the first mission to return material from a moon of Mars.

Why It Matters: A piece of Phobos could reveal how Mars and its moons formed, and helps plan future human missions to the Mars system.

Also on TrendDesh: Artemis II heat shield: NASA finds just 9 char-loss spots against 103 on Artemis I · NASA Moon battery: solid-state SPEARS cells built to survive the lunar South Pole cold

Source: NASA Science · JAXA · ESA

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