Japan launches its first mission to deliver samples from a Martian moon

Japan is preparing to launch a spacecraft as part of the world’s first mission aimed at delivering soil samples from Phobos, one of Mars’s two small, potato-shaped moons, to Earth, reports UNN, citing The Guardian.

Details

Scientists hope that this mission, which is expected to last five years, will help determine how Phobos and its smaller “brother” Deimos formed and may even shed light on the origins of life in the Solar System.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to carry out the launch on Tuesday using Japan’s new H3 launch vehicle.

Yasuhiro Kawakatsu, project manager of the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, said that samples from Phobos would provide important data for assessing the possibility of using the moon as a base for a future crewed expedition to Mars. The United States, China and other countries plan to send astronauts to the Red Planet.

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“Despite their potential significance, Mars’s moons have not yet been studied in detail,” Kawakatsu says. “They are called the most important ‘unconquered peaks’ in the Solar System.”

Japan is leading this international mission, which also involves NASA and the space agencies of other countries that are providing equipment and communications support.

Since the 1960s, dozens of missions have been sent to Mars, but its moons have largely remained a mystery. Several Russian attempts to land on Phobos, including the 2011 mission, ended in failure.

The names Phobos and Deimos come from figures in ancient Greek mythology—the personifications of fear and terror, and sons of the god of war Ares, who corresponds to Mars in Roman mythology.

The key question is how exactly they formed and what they are made of. Some scientists suggest that these two irregularly shaped, crater-covered celestial bodies may be debris created after a large space object collided with Mars. Others believe that the moons may be asteroids that arrived from other parts of space.

JAXA representatives are convinced that samples from Phobos will provide answers to these questions. “Analysis of the soil samples will almost certainly allow us to reach a definite conclusion,” says Kiyoshi Kuramoto, the mission’s principal scientific investigator.

In addition

Scientists decided to collect samples from Phobos primarily because this moon is located closer to Mars than Deimos and therefore may contain more information about the planet. According to JAXA representatives (the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), about 0.1% of the material collected on Phobos is expected to consist of matter that arrived there from Mars.

Phobos has a diameter of about 27 km at its widest point; it orbits Mars at a distance of approximately 6,000 km, completing a full orbit three times a day.

According to Kuramoto, samples from Phobos may also shed light on the origin of Deimos, as both moons are believed to have a common origin. The mission includes a flyby of Deimos to conduct observations.

The journey to the “Red Planet” will be a long one: at its closest point, it is 55 million km from Earth. As Kawakatsu noted, the actual flight distance will be 500–600 million km.

After being launched by the H3 launch vehicle, the spacecraft will reach the vicinity of Mars around August 2027. For the next three years, it will remain near Phobos, collecting data and samples, after which it will return to Earth in 2031.

The MMX spacecraft consists of three modules: propulsion, exploration and return. Only the third module will return to Earth with the samples.

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Thirteen scientific instruments will be mounted aboard the spacecraft. They include a rover jointly developed by France and Germany that will land on the moon’s surface; a NASA device for collecting samples; an instrument for measuring gamma radiation; and European Space Agency equipment for deep-space communications. In addition, a Japanese radiation detector will collect data that could prove useful for future crewed missions to Mars.

The Franco-German rover “Idefix” (Idefix) is expected to be the first to land on Phobos. During its 100-day mission (scheduled for approximately 2029), it will study the surface to assist the Japanese spacecraft with subsequent soil collection. Based on topographic data obtained by the rover, a relatively level and smooth area will be selected for landing. After the MMX mission lands, JAXA scientists plan to collect at least 10 g of soil from the moon’s surface, taking two samples using American and Japanese technologies.

The NASA device uses pressurized gas to lift surface dust and move it into a container, while the Japanese method involves drilling to obtain samples from a depth of approximately 2 cm. During the first attempt, the MMX spacecraft will collect samples both from the surface and from below it, while during the second landing it will take additional samples from the subsurface layer.

According to scientists, collecting samples from several different sites increases the likelihood of detecting traces that could indicate the existence of microbial life on Mars in the past.

Landing on the crater-covered moon, whose gravity is only two-thousandths that of Earth, is an extremely challenging task. To minimize the spacecraft’s bouncing upon touching the surface, the MMX research module is equipped with a four-legged landing gear system with shock absorbers.

According to JAXA, the spacecraft has wheels capable of providing traction on the surface under low-gravity conditions; they also allow the spacecraft to return to an operational position if it overturns and to move “at a snail’s pace.”

The collected samples will be placed in a heat-protective capsule designed to withstand passage through Earth’s atmosphere. The module is expected to land in Australia, after which it will be transported to Japan.