Overview
- JAXA launched the uncrewed Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft from Tanegashima on an H3 rocket and the craft is now on a roughly one-year cruise toward Mars.
- MMX will enter a controlled orbit near Mars, spend about a year mapping Phobos and observing Deimos, and then attempt two short, fully autonomous surface landings to collect at least ten grams of material.
- The spacecraft carries international instruments including three spectrometers supplied by NASA and CNES, a dust sensor, high‑resolution cameras, and the small IDEFIX rover built by German and French partners.
- Landing and sampling face major technical risks because Phobos has extremely weak gravity and long communication delays, so descent, drilling and sample capture must run autonomously.
- If sampling succeeds, MMX will depart Mars and return a sealed sample capsule to Earth around 2030 for recovery in Australia, building on JAXA's Hayabusa heritage in autonomous guidance, sampling and reentry.