The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is preparing to launch the unmanned MMX probe to one of Mars' moons. The mission is to become the first to deliver soil samples from the Martian region to Earth.
An H3 rocket carrying the craft will lift off from the Tanegashima space center. According to calculations, the probe will reach the vicinity of Mars in about a year and enter orbit around Phobos, the larger of the planet's two satellites.
The craft will then land on Phobos and collect surface samples. About three years are allotted for work near the Red Planet. The project is being carried out jointly with the space agencies of the United States and Europe, as well as with universities and technology companies.
The main scientific goal is to understand how Mars and its moons formed. This will help determine how the Solar System arose. Two hypotheses are currently being considered. According to the giant-impact hypothesis, the moons appeared after a large celestial body struck Mars. According to the capture hypothesis, the satellites are asteroids pulled in by the planet's gravity.
Establishing which version is correct is important for understanding how an environment suitable for life could have formed on the terrestrial planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, JAXA notes.
The probe will also study the possibility of using Phobos as a natural space station. To this end, specialists will determine the requirements for a round trip, which is necessary for future crewed missions to Mars. Along the way, the craft will observe the planet's second moon, Deimos, although it will not land on it.
Other countries are also stepping up their efforts in this area. NASA's Perseverance rover has been working on the planet since 2021 and has already collected samples, but the mission to deliver them was effectively canceled after a vote in Congress. China's Tianwen-3 craft is planned for launch around 2028, and it expects to deliver samples to Earth by 2031 - potentially earlier than the Japanese mission.
The project's limitation is that it studies only one moon of Mars and does not replace a full analysis of Martian soil. Nevertheless, returning samples from Phobos could provide a key to understanding the early history of the terrestrial planets.