X

Japan greenlights mission to bring back sample of Mars moon Phobos

This might end up being the first round-trip journey to the Martian system.

Amanda Kooser
Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.
Amanda Kooser
phobosnasa
Enlarge Image
phobosnasa

Mars' moon Phobos is larger than its sibling Deimos.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Japan's space agency JAXA has some solid experience with collecting samples from space rocks, as with its Hayabusa2 asteroid mission. It wants to turn that expertise toward Mars moon Phobos with its Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) project.

JAXA announced on Wednesday that it's officially moving MMX into the development phase, which will focus on building the mission hardware and software.

The ambitious mission will send a spacecraft to visit the two moons of Mars -- Phobos and Deimos. JAXA selected Phobos as a landing site. MMX will touch down on the surface for several hours, deploy a corer, and gather up material from the moon's surface to bring back to Earth.

Watch this: Meet the Mars 2020 rover launching this year

Phobos is the larger of the Mars moons, but it's still only 17 miles (27 kilometers) across. It has a funky, potato-like shape and is covered with impact craters. JAXA hopes to answer questions about how Mars' two moons formed. 

The mission will also investigate the radiation environment and test  technologies designed to land on a low-gravity body like Phobos. Other space agencies, including NASA and the European Space Agency, are on board to provide instruments, making this mission an international collaboration. 

MMX has a planned launch date in 2024. 

Explore asteroid Ryugu with Japan's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft

See all photos