Japan's ambitious mission to Mars's moons
Japan's Martian Moon eXploration mission has launched on a five-year journey to study Mars's moons Phobos and Deimos, aiming to become the first mission to return samples from the Martian system. The half-billion dollar unmanned spacecraft will spend three years studying Phobos, deploy a rover, and collect dust, rock and soil samples before observing Deimos on its return journey. A capsule containing the samples is scheduled to land in Woomera, South Australia in 2031, potentially providing breakthrough insights into how Mars's moons formed and the origins of life in our solar system.
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