Mission blasts off for Mars to grab a piece of its moon

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1. 1

   Mission blasts off for Mars to grab a piece of its moon

   BBC NewsPublished Oct 19, 2026Checked Oct 20, 2026

   “Watch: Spacecraft heading to Mars' moon Phobos lifts off from Japan A spacecraft has launched from Japan headed for Mars' moon Phobos, where it will attempt to grab some moondust and bring it back to Earth. If it is successful, this will become the first time a sample has been returned from Mars or its moons to be analysed in laboratories here on Earth. The spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at Phobos in August 2027. It is hoped that the Mars Moons Exploration (MMX) mission, which is led by the Japanese Space Agency, will solve the mystery of how Mars's moons formed. Prof Sara Russell, from the Natural History Museum, who is the MMX mission's deputy for sample analysis, said: "There hasn't yet been a successful mission to go to Phobos and bring a bit back to Earth. "I think this is an incredibly ambitious and fun mission," she said. There are only three moons in the inner Solar System: our own Moon, and two around Mars, which are called Phobos and Deimos. Both of these are tiny - Phobos is about 20km (12 miles) across and Deimos is about 10km (six miles) across. They are also irregularly shaped, looking a bit like space potatoes. The MMX spacecraft will study Deimos as it arrives in the Mars neighbourhood, and then will focus on Phobos. It plans to set down a small rover to explore the terrain, though this will be no easy feat. Sara Russell says no one has ever landed a rover on such a small moon. "The moon itself doesn't have very much of its own gravity," she explained.”

2. 2

   Moons of Mars (Wikipedia)

   WikipediaChecked Oct 20, 2026

   “The two moons of Mars are Phobos and Deimos. They are irregular in shape. Both were discovered by American astronomer Asaph Hall in August 1877 and are named after the Greek mythological twin characters Phobos (fear and panic) and Deimos (terror and dread) who accompanied their father Ares (Mars in Roman mythology, hence the name of the planet) into battle. Compared to the Earth's Moon, the moons Phobos and Deimos are very small. Phobos has a diameter of 22.2 km (13.8 mi) and a mass of 1.08×1016 kg, while Deimos measures 12.6 km (7.8 mi) across, with a mass of 1.5×1015 kg. Phobos orbits closer to Mars, with a semi-major axis of 9,377 km (5,827 mi) and an orbital period of 7.66 hours; while Deimos orbits farther with a semi-major axis of 23,460 km (14,580 mi) and an orbital period of 30.35 hours. Two major hypotheses have emerged as to the origin of the moons: The first suggests that they originated from Mars itself, perhaps from a giant impact event suggested to have created the Martian dichotomy and the Borealis Basin. The second suggests that they are captured asteroids.”

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   Transport of impact ejecta from Mars to its moons as a means to reveal Martian history.

   Scientific reports (Hyodo et al.)Published Dec 27, 2019Checked Oct 20, 2026

   “Throughout the history of the solar system, Mars has experienced continuous asteroidal impacts. These impacts have produced impact-generated Mars ejecta, and a fraction of this debris is delivered to Earth as Martian meteorites. Another fraction of the ejecta is delivered to the moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. Here, we studied the amount and condition of recent delivery of impact ejecta from Mars to its moons. Using state-of-the-art numerical approaches, we report, for the first time, that materials delivered from Mars to its moons are physically and chemically different from the Martian meteorites, which are all igneous rocks with a limited range of ages. We show that Mars ejecta mixed in the regolith of its moons potentially covers all its geological eras and consists of all types of rocks, from sedimentary to igneous. A Martian moons sample-return mission will bring such materials back to Earth, and the samples will provide a wealth of "time-resolved" geochemical information about the evolution of Martian surface environments.”

4. 4

   The WheelCams on the IDEFIX rover.

   Progress in earth and planetary science (Murdoch et al.)Published Jul 14, 2025Checked Oct 20, 2026

   “IDEFIX, the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission Phobos rover, will be the first of its kind to attempt wheeled-locomotion on a low-gravity surface. The IDEFIX WheelCams, two cameras placed on the underside of the rover looking at the rover wheels, provide a unique opportunity to study the surface properties of Phobos, regolith behaviour on small-bodies and rover mobility in low-gravity. The information gained about Phobos' surface will be of high importance to the landing and sampling operations of the main MMX spacecraft, in addition to being valuable for understanding the surface processes and geological history of Phobos. Here we introduce the WheelCam science objectives, the instrument and the characterisation activities. We also discuss the on-going preparations linked to the analysis and interpretation of the WheelCam images on the surface of Phobos.”

5. 5

   Analytical protocols for Phobos regolith samples returned by the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission.

   Earth, planets, and space : EPS (Fujiya et al.)Published Jun 1, 2021Checked Oct 20, 2026

   “If Phobos is a captured asteroid composed of primitive chondritic materials, as inferred from its reflectance spectra, geochemical data including the nature of organic matter as well as bulk H and N isotopic compositions characterize the volatile materials in the samples and constrain the type of the captured asteroid. Cosmogenic and solar wind components, most pronounced in noble gas isotopic compositions, can reveal surface processes on Phobos. Long- and short-lived radionuclide chronometry such as 53Mn-53Cr and 87Rb-87Sr systematics can date pivotal events like impacts, thermal metamorphism, and aqueous alteration on Phobos. It should be noted that the Phobos regolith is expected to contain a small amount of materials delivered from Mars, which may be physically and chemically different from any Martian meteorites in our collection and thus are particularly precious. The analysis plan will be designed to detect such Martian materials, if any, from the returned samples dominated by the endogenous Phobos materials in curation procedures at JAXA before they are processed for further analyses.”