MMX Embarked on Five-year Journey to Martian Moon

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully launched H3 rocket from its Tanegashima Space Center, Kagoshima, in the early morning of October 20th. The rocket loads the Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) which is expected to bring back samples from a satellite of the Mars called Phobos five years later. This first attempt in the world may contribute to find out origin of the Martian moon and habitability of the Mars. 

Phobos is a satellite revolving the Mars once every 7 hours and 39 minutes. Its diameter is 20 to 30 kilometers and located 6,000 kilometers away from the Mars. The relationship between the Mars and Phobos is paralleled with that of the Earth and the Moon, but it is far smaller than the Moon, which diameter has 3,475 kilometers length. Gravity of the earth is 2,000 times heavier than that of Phobos.

 

It is unknown how Phobos was born. There are two hypotheses. One is that a small planet was captured by the Mars. Another is that Phobos is a fragment of celestial collision. The Moon is generally estimated as formed in a giant collision between a protoplanet called Theia and early Earth about 4.5 billion years ago. It is a big question whether Phobos has the same history as the Moon.

 

Mission for the MMX is to scoop 10 grams of material from Phobos. From that sample, scientists hope to identify origin of the Mars system, analyze existence of life or pathways for emergence of habitability. Japan has advanced technology to bring samples in another planet back to the Earth, which was proved with the sample return from a small planet named Itokawa by Hayabusa in 2010 and from Ryugu by Hayabusa 2 in 2020.

 

The mission will also observe topography, internal structure, composition and gravity of Phobos. “Through detailed observations of analysis of the samples obtained from Phobos, this mission seeks to clarify the formation of the Martian sphere and the Solar System, explore how life began, and pave the way for future deep-space exploration,” JAXA explains the mission in its webpage.

 

The launch was firstly planned to be made in 2024. However, a failure of launching H3 in March 2023 delayed the schedule for the MMX. It is estimated that the best timing for launching the rocket comes once in two years. Lifting H3 for the MMX was postponed to 2026. Although JAXA failed in launching H3 again in 2025, the staffs fixed the problem in a short period.

 

The MMX will enter the orbit of going around the Mars in August 2027, touch down on Phobos twice in early 2029 to obtain samples. It will leave sphere of the Mars in November 2030 and returned to the Earth in July 2031, dropping a capsule of samples to desert of Australia. JAXA believes that exploration of the MMX will raise status of Japan in competitive international study on the Mars.

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