Japan's Groundbreaking Mission to Retrieve Samples from Mars' Moon Phobos

10/20/2026

Japan launched a spacecraft on Tuesday on a five-year mission to explore Mars' mysterious moons, Phobos and Deimos, and bring back samples for the first time. The $578 million project aims to...

10/20/2026

Japan launches MMX probe on world-first mission to Mars moon Phobos to collect samples and study the origins of the solar system.

10/20/2026

Five of the world’s space agencies joined forces for the five-year mission that will attempt to land a robotic prospector plus a rover on Phobos, the larger and closer of Mars’ two pint-sized moons.

10/20/2026

The Martian Moons eXploration mission will study Phobos and Deimos before attempting to collect samples from Phobos and return them to Earth in 2031

10/19/2026

Japan’s MMX mission is scheduled to launch on Tuesday, aiming to bring back the first-ever samples from Phobos, one of Mars’ moons, to Earth

10/19/2026

Soil samples collected by the MMX probe will shed light on the mysterious origin of the red planet's two moons, Phobos and Deimos.

10/18/2026

Japan is set to launch a spacecraft on the world's first mission to bring back samples from Phobos, one of the two small, potato-shaped moons orbiting Mars. Scientists hope the mission, which is...

10/20/2026

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which is leading the bold sampling effort, launched the spacecraft before dawn from the country's main spaceport on Tanegashima Island.

10/20/2026

The flagship H3 rocket carrying the unmanned Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) probe blasted off into a pitch black sky from the Tanegashima Space Center at 4:41 a.m. (1941 GMT Monday), according to...

10/19/2026

Japan launched a spacecraft towards Mars in a ground-breaking mission to bring back samples from the largest of the planet's two moons.

10/19/2026

Japan has launched a spacecraft on world-first, five-year mission towards Mars, in a bid to answer the burning question: Did life ever exist on the red planet?

10/18/2026

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s launch of the spacecraft Tuesday on a new Japanese mainstay H-3 rocket comes as the United States, China and others consider sending astronauts to Mars.