Japan's Moon Dive: Bringing Mars Moon Dust Home

Japan is trying something never done before. The country wants to fly to Mars, grab bits from one of its moons, and bring those bits back to Earth. The mission is named MMX. It will visit two small moons called Phobos and Deimos. Scientists hope the rocks and dust will tell a story about how our solar system started long ago.

The trip begins with a launch from Japan. An H3 rocket will carry the ship from the Tanegashima Space Center. Liftoff is set for October 19 at 3:41 p.m. Eastern time. That is early morning on October 20 in Japan. After flying for ten months, the craft should reach Mars orbit in August 2027.

The ship is made of three big sections plus a little rover. One section pushes the craft toward Mars. Another holds the cameras and science tools. The last section keeps the sample container safe for the ride home. A company called Mitsubishi Electric built the main parts. The tiny rover came from a team in France and Germany. It is named after a dog from an old French comic. The rover also honors France's first satellite from 1965. On board are tools from the United States and France too. One tool measures gamma rays and neutrons. Another uses infrared light. Japan added a zoom camera, a wide-angle camera, a laser sensor, and a tool that studies mass. The return section also watches for space dust and radiation.

Once at Mars, the ship drops the part that pushed it there. It then moves into a special orbit around Phobos. This orbit lets it fly alongside the moon as both circle Mars. For months, the craft will snap photos and map the surface from different heights. It will look for a good place to land. In late 2028 or early 2029, the little rover will drop from about forty meters up. Phobos has very weak gravity. The rover should fall without breaking, bounce a few times, stand up, and start looking around. The main ship will try to land twice to scoop up material. Both the science section and the return section will go down together and then head back to orbit.

After finishing at Phobos, the craft will swing by Deimos several times. Then it will leave Mars in November 2030. If everything works, the sample container will land in Australia in 2031. Scientists will study what comes back. They want to learn how these moons formed. The answer could change how we think about the early days of our solar system.