Japan sets Oct 20 launch for 10g Mars moon sample mission
Japan’s mission aims to return samples from Phobos to Earth to investigate the Martian moon’s origins and test technology for future human exploration.
- Japan's JAXA has scheduled the launch of its Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission for October 20, 2026.
- The mission's primary goal is to land on Phobos, a moon of Mars, and collect at least 10 grams of subsurface material.
- This will be the first-ever landing on Phobos, with the sample capsule scheduled to return to Earth in 2031.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to launch a mission from Tanegashima Space Center on Tuesday (October 20, 2026), aiming to return the first samples from Phobos, one of Mars’s two moons, to Earth. The spacecraft’s goal is to collect at least 10 grams of material.
The Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft is scheduled to lift off aboard an H3 rocket at 4.41am Japan time from the space centre in Kagoshima prefecture, southwestern Japan.
The MMX mission has a reported cost of more than 55 billion yen, or approximately 12 billion baht. A successful touchdown would mark the first landing on Phobos.
MMX plans to collect material beneath Phobos’s surface
JAXA plans to land MMX on Phobos and use its sampling equipment to retrieve at least 10 grams of material from a depth of two centimetres or more beneath the surface.
The MMX flight plan allows about one year to reach the vicinity of Mars, followed by three years of observations and exploration. JAXA targets the return of the sample capsule to Earth in 2031.
MMX designed for Phobos’s low-gravity landing
The MMX spacecraft consists of three main modules and has four landing legs designed for touchdown in Phobos’s weak gravity, which is approximately one two-thousandth of Earth’s.
MMX carries sampling equipment and advanced observation instruments, along with ultra-high-definition cameras developed jointly with the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK).
Phobos samples could help resolve the moon’s origins
JAXA hopes MMX’s observations and returned samples will help establish whether Phobos formed from debris created by a collision or was captured by Mars’s gravity.
JAXA also intends the MMX mission to develop and test technologies needed for future human exploration of the Martian surface.
