ScienceGriffin Daily NewsJapan launches spacecraft to moons of Mars to bring home soil samples
Japan launched a spacecraft to collect soil samples from Mars's moon Phobos, with the material due back on Earth in 2031.
A Japanese spacecraft rocketed toward Mars on Tuesday on a quest to explore its mysterious moons and bring back samples.
Japan launched its MMX spacecraft before dawn from Tanegashima Island, bound for Phobos, the larger of Mars's two moons.
The $578 million, five-tonne spacecraft should reach Mars by late next summer and will deploy a small French-German rover named Idefix onto Phobos.
If all goes to plan, dust and rock samples from Phobos will land back on Earth in 2031, a world first for any Martian body.
The mission, called MMX, is a five-agency collaboration costing $578 million and is the first attempt to retrieve samples from a Martian moon.
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