Japan launches probe to bring samples of a moon from Mars to Earth

A martian probe MMX (Martian Moons eXploration), unmanned and developed in collaboration with American and European space agencies, as well as universities and technology companies, should contribute to unravel the mysteries of the origins of the solar system and life on Earth, indicated the same source.

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) stated that the H3 rocket, which transports the MMX probe, will take off from the space center of Tanegashima, in the south of the country, at 04:41 on October 20 (20:41 in Lisbon on October 19).

The probe will orbit Mars for about three years and will try to land at Phobos, one of the moons of the planet.

The probe will collect at least 10 grams of material from the surface of Phobos, while the IDEFIX rover, whose name is a reference to the Asterix comic book hero's dog, will make observations of the surface.

The mission also aims to explore Deimos, another moon from Mars, but without landing.

A return capsule is expected to return to Earth and land in Australia in 2031.

The space agency expects the mission to show how Mars and its moons formed, a fundamental knowledge to understand the birth of the solar system.

JAXA needed to study the possibility of using Phobos as a “natural space station”, developing the technologies necessary for a return trip to Mars, a “essential stage for manned exploration” of this planet.