MMX is scheduled to depart for Phobos on October 20
WHAT HAPPENED
JAXA's Martian Moons eXploration mission is scheduled to launch aboard H3 Flight 10 from Tanegashima at 4:41:03 a.m. JST on October 20. The spacecraft should reach Mars in August 2027, enter a quasi-satellite orbit simi…
Read the full summary & background
JAXA's Martian Moons eXploration mission is scheduled to launch aboard H3 Flight 10 from Tanegashima at 4:41:03 a.m. JST on October 20. The spacecraft should reach Mars in August 2027, enter a quasi-satellite orbit similar to Phobos and observe the shape, interior, composition and gravity of Phobos and Deimos. No earlier than December 2028, it plans two soft landings to collect at least 10 grams of Phobos surface material, with an Earth return in 2031. The mission will test whether Phobos is a captured asteroid or debris from a giant impact and examine how water and organics moved through the early Solar System. NASA contributes a gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer, a pneumatic sampler and deep-space communications support. Launch, landing, sampling and return remain planned milestones, not completed outcomes.
Ten grams is light, but it could change how we understand Mars's moons and material flow in the early Solar System.
Doudoulong, in plain words
This is still a pre-launch milestone; the answer waits on successful sampling and a 2031 return.
AI-assisted illustration · not a documentary photograph
