NASA’s next Mars mission targets Phobos and Deimos, not Red Planet
JAXA’s Martian Moons exploration mission will launch on October 19
This is no secret that most of NASA’s missions revolve around finding Mars’ ancient secrets. But this time something different is going to happen.
This time, NASA is backing a mission named JAXA’s Martian Moons exploration mission initiated by Japan’s agency.
The US space agency has joined a major Japan-led space mission set to launch in the coming days. The uncrewed spacecraft will head toward Mars to survey both of its moons and attempt a landing on one of them.
The ambitious voyage aligns with NASA’s broader Artemis program, which aims to prepare for future crewed missions deeper into the solar system.
The core objective of this mission is to characterize and determine the origin of Mars’ two moons including Phobos and Deimos and deliver a sample of Phobos back to Earth.
Speaking about the key timeline, the mission will launch on October 19 from JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center in Japan and it will arrive at Mars in August 2027. The Phobos sample will be collected no earlier than December 2028. And sample delivery to Earth will take place by 2031.
According to scientists, the smaller asteroid-sized moons “could either be remnants of something that crashed into Mars or a part of an asteroid that came under the influence of the planet's gravity.
So the mission will delve deep into these moons, especially will study the elemental composition of Phobos' surface and unlock mysteries related to their evolution and origin.
Understanding the origins will provide critical insights into how the early inner planets (including Earth) acquired water and organic compounds. Returned samples will provide foundational science supporting future human missions to Mars.
NASA is collaborating closely with JAXA through its Discovery Program and will provide the MEGANE gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer on the MMX spacecraft to aid in surface sample collection on Phobos.
NASA will also receive and curate around 15% of the returned sample at NASA’s Johnson Space Center Astromaterials Lab in Houston for long-term research.
