Japan’s MMX mission launches to collect a sample from Phobos

Author: Rebecca Morelle, Alison Francis and Kevin ChurchPublished on: October 19, 2026Country: Japan

Science

Japan’s MMX mission launches to collect a sample from Phobos

Japan’s MMX spacecraft has launched for Phobos, Mars’s larger moon, to collect dust and return it to Earth. It is due to arrive in August 2027, study Deimos as it reaches the Mars system, and then deploy a small rover to scout a landing site on Phobos. The mission aims to bring back about 10 grams of material in a capsule scheduled to land in South Australia’s Woomera desert in 2031. Scientists hope the samples will help explain how Mars’s moons formed.

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