Overview
- The MMX spacecraft lifted off from Tanegashima on Tuesday, October 20 and was placed on a Mars‑bound trajectory after second‑stage separation about 70 minutes later.
- MMX is scheduled to arrive near Mars in August 2027, with a planned Phobos landing around 2029 and a sample‑return capsule due back on Earth in fiscal 2031.
- The probe will collect more than 10 grams of sand and small rocks from Phobos, the irregular 23‑kilometre moon that orbits roughly 6,000 km from Mars.
- Japan led development of the 4,480 kg spacecraft at a cost of about ¥55.3 billion, and the mission carries 13 instruments with contributions from Germany, France, NASA and ESA including a German‑French Phobos rover.
- The launch sets MMX in a race with other nation programs, notably China’s planned Mars sample effort, and success would inform Mars origins studies and plans for future human missions.