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Japan Space Agency to Solve Billion-Year-Old Mystery of Mars Moons
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News18•16-10-2026, 21:03
Japan Space Agency to Solve Billion-Year-Old Mystery of Mars Moons
- •Japan's space agency JAXA launched the Martian Moons Exploration mission to uncover the origins of Mars' moons Phobos and Deimos.
- •The spacecraft aims to collect at least 10 grams of soil from Phobos and return it to Earth by 2031 for laboratory analysis.
- •Scientists are investigating whether Phobos and Deimos were captured asteroids or formed from debris after a massive collision with Mars.
- •The mission will use two special sample-collection systems to extract soil from Phobos despite its extremely weak gravity.
- •The spacecraft will also study both moons and deploy a small rover developed in cooperation with Germany and France.
Key Questions Answered
Led by JAXA, the MMX mission aims to travel to the Martian system, study Mars's two moons (Phobos and Deimos), and collect at least 10 grams of soil and material from Phobos to bring back to Earth for laboratory analysis.
According to the mission plan, the spacecraft is scheduled to return the collected soil samples from Phobos to Earth in the year 2031, with a planned landing in the Woomera region of Australia.
Scientists debate whether Mars's moons were wandering asteroids captured by the planet's gravity or whether they formed from the debris ejected into space after a massive cosmic body collided with Mars billions of years ago.
