24.08.2021

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) offered some details last week about its planned mission to Phobos, one of the moons of Mars, which it hopes to launch in 2024.

This is the first step in the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, which is a project to explore the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos.

The Japanese explorer will be tasked with collecting about 10 grams of soil from the surface of Phobos and to bring it back to Earth in 2029, where it will be studied for clues about any possible history of life on the red planet (some of the surface soil is thought likely to have arrived via ancient Martian sandstorms).

While the United States currently has its Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars and China has its Zhurong rover, both of them are not scheduled to deliver soil samples back to Earth until the early 2030s. It is plausible, therefore, that the first evidence of ancient life of Mars could be discovered by Japan first.

“We think that the Martian moon, Phobos, is loaded with material lifted from Mars during meteorite impacts. By collecting this Phobos sample, MMX will help investigate traces of Martian life and the new era of Martian habitability exploration in the 2020s will begin,” the mission managers tweeted earlier this month.

The mission website adds, “exploration of the Martian moons will help improve technology for future planet and satellite exploration. For example, advancement in the technology required to make round-trips between the Earth and Mars, the advanced sampling techniques that will be employed on the Martian moon surface, and in the optimal communication technology using the deep space network ground stations.”

Quelle: Akihabara News