Japan is sending a spacecraft to land on Phobos, where gravity is about 1,700 times weaker than Earth’s. MMX will collect more than 10 grams of material and return it to Australia in 2031 — the first
Japan's MMX mission aims to land on the Martian moon Phobos to collect material samples and return them to Earth by 2031. The mission faces unique engineering challenges due to the moon's extremely low gravity.
Why it matters
Successfully retrieving samples from the Martian system would be a major milestone in planetary science and our understanding of the solar system's history.
MMX will use a rover, two sampling systems and a brief Phobos landing to return more than 10 grams of material to Australia in 2031.
By Mission Notes · Edited by Lachlan Brown
Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration spacecraft is not going to Phobos merely to photograph it. The mission is designed to fly beside the moon, release a small rover onto it, bring the main spacecraft down for a short sampling stop and then carry the material all the way back to Earth.
If the current schedule holds, JAXA will launch MMX on an H3 rocket in Japanese fiscal year 2026, reach Mars in 2027, leave in 2030 and deliver its return capsule to Australia in fiscal year 2031. European mission partners currently list October 2026 for launch. MMX has not launched yet, however, and every date remains a plan that can move.
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