Japan Launches MMX: The First Mission to Bring Back Soil From a Moon of Mars
Japan's space agency, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), launched the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) probe on an H3 rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center at 4:41 a.m. Japan time on 20 October 2026 (19:41 GMT on 19 October).
MMX is an uncrewed (robotic) mission. It aims to land on Phobos, the larger of Mars's two moons, collect at least 10 grams of its soil and bring it back to Earth.
It is expected to reach Mars orbit around August 2027 and begin orbiting Phobos soon after. The sample capsule is planned to return to Earth in 2031, landing in Australia.
The mission includes partners: a small rover called IDEFIX built by France (CNES) and Germany (DLR), and instruments from NASA and the European Space Agency.
The launch had been planned for 2024 but was delayed because of the availability of the new H3 rocket and technical reviews.
Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) Mission: Japan's Journey to Phobos
The Martian Moons eXploration mission, or MMX, is a Japanese robotic spacecraft that will fly to Mars, land on its larger moon Phobos, scoop up some soil and bring it back to Earth. It is led by JAXA. Its main scientific question is how the moons of Mars were formed: were they asteroids captured by Mars's gravity, or pieces thrown off when something big hit Mars?
With this launch, MMX has started its roughly five-year round trip. If it succeeds, it will be the first mission ever to bring back material from the Mars system, and its samples could settle the long debate about where Phobos came from.
Sample Return Missions: Bringing Pieces of Space Back to Earth
A sample return mission travels to another world, such as the Moon, an asteroid, a comet or a planet's moon, collects some of its material and brings it back to Earth. Scientists then study it in powerful laboratories that are far too big to send into space. This gives much more exact answers than instruments on a spacecraft can give.
MMX is the next major sample return mission after the asteroid and Moon missions of recent years. It is also a useful model for India, which is preparing its own sample return with Chandrayaan-4.
- Mission: Martian Moons eXploration (MMX), led by JAXA
- Launch: 20 October 2026, 4:41 a.m. JST, on an H3 rocket from Tanegashima Space Center
- Target: Phobos, larger moon of Mars (about 22 km); Deimos is about 12 km
- Sample: at least 10 grams of regolith
- Mars arrival: about August 2027; Earth return: 2031 (capsule lands in Australia)
- Rover: IDEFIX (CNES, France and DLR, Germany), about 25 kg
- NASA instrument: MEGANE (gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer)
- Original launch target: 2024
- India's Chandrayaan-4 (lunar sample return): approved 18 September 2024, ₹2,104.06 crore