Japan has launched a $350 million mission to study the two moons of Mars and return soil from the larger one, Phobos, to Earth, CBS News reports.
The Martian Moons Exploration probe, known as MMX, lifted off on an H3 rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center on Monday. It is due to enter orbit around Mars in September 2027 and spend three years studying Phobos, dropping a small rover supplied by the German and French space agencies onto its surface in early 2029.
The spacecraft itself is expected to land on Phobos around 2030 to collect a small amount of soil, with samples due back on Earth in 2031. Scientists hope they will show whether Phobos and Deimos formed from debris after a giant impact on Mars or are captured asteroids.
Source: CBS News
