On October 3, National Research and Development Agency Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced a joint statement with Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and German Aerospace Center (DLR) regarding Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) currently under the initial study at JAXA.

To follow "MASCOT," a small lander jointly developed by DLR and CNES onboard the Asteroid Explorer "Hayabusa2," JAXA, CNES, and DLR together conducted studies of a rover to be onboard MMX and agreed that it would be jointly developed by CNES and DLR.

Joint Statement announced by