MARTIAN MOONS EXPLORATION

Japan’s next sample-collection feat will be to the second and third closest natural satellites in the Solar System

Japan has a very adept space agency in terms of exploration. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, has engineered the launches of the Hayabusa missions to near-Earth asteroids and the Akatsuki space probe to Venus. Although the Hayabusa2 spacecraft is the only mission so far to occur without a hiccup, there is much to learn from these mistakes, and JAXA is now readying itself to launch a new mission to Mars’ moons, Phobos and Deimos.

JAXA is currently preparing its Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) mission, with a plan to launch towards Phobos and Deimos in 2024, gain scientific data from both objects upon arrival in 2025, collect a sample of Phobos in the process and finish the mission by returning the sample to Earth by 2029. Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, attempted the same feat in 2011 with the Fobos-Grunt mission. However, untimely rocket burns meant it did not reach a trajectory toward Mars, but instead became stranded in low-Earth orbit, ending with a controlled re-entry into the Pacific Ocean.