MMX reportedly begins five-year voyage toward Phobos sample return
SCIENCEUnverifiedUpdated:
MMX reportedly began its five-year mission toward a Phobos sample return. Launch is complete, while landing attempts in 2029 and return in 2031 remain future stages.
Separation from H3 followed by communications and solar-array deployment
According to the report, the robotic MMX spacecraft launched from Tanegashima Space Center aboard an H3 rocket, separated from the rocket, established contact with ground controllers, and deployed its solar panels. The mission is to travel to Mars, examine Phobos and Deimos, and attempt up to two landings on Phobos in 2029 to collect samples. The report describes a planned Earth return for the sample capsule in 2031.
No quantitative before-and-after comparison is provided. The report distinguishes a completed launch from future landing and sample-return steps.
MMX has reportedly moved from a planned Phobos sample-return effort into a five-year flight toward Mars; its attempted landings and return of material remain future milestones.
Returned material could allow laboratory analysis of Phobos and help examine competing explanations for the origin of Mars's moons. Those scientific results depend on future mission stages that have not yet occurred.
Sources
- Ars TechnicaJapan launches mission to bring home a piece of the Martian moon PhobosRead source →