Japanese probe sets off for Mars moon Phobos
The MMX mission aims to bring material from a moon in the Martian environment to Earth for the first time.
Follow-up to: Japan launches mission to retrieve samples from Martian moon Monday, 19 October 2026, 22:41
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Japan has launched the MMX probe on a five-year journey to the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos. The mission is due to collect material from Phobos and bring it to Earth in 2031, if the planned steps succeed.
The probe lifted off from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center aboard an H3 rocket. Japan’s space agency JAXA is leading the mission, with contributions from NASA, the European Space Agency ESA, France’s CNES and the German Aerospace Centre DLR.
MMX stands for Martian Moons eXploration. The probe will study both Martian moons, but under the current plan it will land on Phobos. There, a robotic vehicle, the Franco-German Idefix rover, is due to explore the surface before the main probe collects samples.
The mission is scientifically important because it remains unclear how Phobos and Deimos formed. They could be remnants of a large impact on Mars, but they could also be ancient asteroids captured by Mars’s gravity. Measurements of their composition should help distinguish between these possibilities.
According to NASA, the rover will be deployed in 2028 or 2029. The probe and samples are scheduled to return in 2031. These are planning dates, not guarantees: the mission consists of several complex components and has not yet brought material from Phobos to Earth.
Japan has experience returning material from asteroids through the Hayabusa and Hayabusa2 missions. A Martian moon, however, is a different destination. The distance, Phobos’s low gravity and navigation around Mars make landing and take-off technically demanding.
The results could also be relevant to future robotic or crewed missions in the Martian environment. That is a possible long-term effect, not an objective already achieved by this launch. For now, this is the start of a research mission whose success can only be assessed years from now.
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The launch, organisations involved and mission design have been confirmed by AP, NASA and JAXA. Future dates have been presented as plans, not certainties.
- confirmed Japan launched the MMX probe from Tanegashima. — AP reports the launch; NASA names Tanegashima as the launch site. source
- confirmed MMX is intended to bring material from Phobos to Earth. — NASA and JAXA describe this as the mission’s main objective. source
- confirmed The return is scheduled for 2031. — AP names 2031 as the planned arrival of the material. source
Editor's note
The launch has been confirmed by AP and NASA. The sample return and deployment of the rover are planned future steps.Sources
The story so far
- Monday, 19 October 2026, 13:42 Japan plans mission to launch for Mars’s potato moon
- Monday, 19 October 2026, 22:41 Japan launches mission to retrieve samples from Martian moon
- Monday, 19 October 2026, 23:43 Japanese probe sets off for Mars moon Phobos (this article)
More on this in Dutch media
- RTL Nieuws — „ruimtevaart japan”
- NOS — „ruimtevaart japan”
- Het Parool — „ruimtevaart japan”