TOKYO - The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Thursday it plans to launch a space probe later this year on a world-first mission to collect samples, including rock and sand, from one of Mars' moons and bring them back to Earth.
The probe is scheduled to be launched aboard H3 rocket No. 10 from the Tanegashima Space Center on Tanegashima, a small island in southwestern Japan, at 4:41 a.m. on Oct. 20 for the Martian Moons Exploration mission, or MMX.
The launch was originally slated for 2024 but was postponed after the maiden flight of H3 rocket No. 1 failed the previous year.
The spacecraft will head for Phobos, the larger of Mars' two moons, which orbits approximately 6,000 kilometers above the surface of Mars and has a diameter of about 20 to 30 km. The probe is scheduled to return to Earth in fiscal 2031.
MMX is a joint international mission to investigate the origin of Mars' moons and develop technologies for future space exploration.
The spacecraft consists of three modules for the journey to Mars, the exploration of Phobos and the return journey, and will weigh 4,480 kilograms at launch. It has four landing legs and stands approximately 5.3 meters tall, with a width of about 9 meters when its solar panels are deployed.
The H3 rocket No. 10 carrying the probe will use the "2-4 configuration," the most powerful version of the rocket with the greatest propulsion capability.
If all goes according to plan, the spacecraft will enter orbit around Mars about a year after launch and begin observations. A rover jointly developed by French and German teams will then land on Phobos, after which the spacecraft will attempt two landings of its own and collect more than 10 grams of sand.
On its return to Earth, the spacecraft will release a capsule containing the collected samples for retrieval in Australia.
