Phobos

Japan’s space agency launched the MMX Mars moon sample-return mission from the Tanegashima Space Center on the afternoon of October 20 local time. The spacecraft rode a 63-metre H3 rocket in a new configuration featuring four strap-on solid boosters, full-throttle main engines and an extended payload shroud. At roughly 4.5 tonnes, two-thirds of its mass is propellant, and it separated from the rocket about 71 minutes after liftoff at more than 24,000 mph, beginning a ten-month journey to Mars. Agency president Hiroshi Yamakawa declared the launch a success.

According to The Guardian, NHK and the Associated Press, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will launch the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission on Tuesday, October 20 from the Tanegashima Space Center. MMX aims to collect at least 10 grams of material from Phobos, Mars’ largest moon, and bring the samples back to Earth within five years. This is the first attempt in history to retrieve samples from a Martian moon, and the probe will also make the first-ever close flyby of the smaller Deimos. The mission is led by Japan with instrument and deep-space communications support from the European Space Agency and NASA, and is widely seen as the next step in Japan’s deep-space sampling capability after Hayabusa2.