Japan's MMX probe launches for Phobos: first samples from a Martian moon due in 2031

Japan's space agency JAXA launched the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) probe on October 20 at 4:41 a.m. Japan time on an H3 rocket from Tanegashima. The probe separated 71 minutes and 13 seconds after liftoff, and JAXA said the H3 "flew as planned".

MMX is due to reach Mars next summer, according to ESA. The goal is to collect at least ten grams of soil from Phobos, the larger of Mars's two moons, and return it to Earth in 2031, which would be the first sample return from the Mars system.

An international payload

The probe carries the small IDEFIX rover, under 30 kilograms, built by France's CNES and Germany's DLR, and NASA's MEGANE gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer. ESA provides deep-space communications through its Estrack network.