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Japan sets launch for first sample return from Mars moon
Japan's MMX mission is scheduled to launch on 20 October to collect at least 10 grammes from Phobos, a moon of Mars. The samples could help explain how Mars's moons formed. Arrival is expected in 2027, with a planned return to Earth in 2031. Launch is set for 1:41am Bangladesh time.
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From 19 October 2026 — Daily Brief
19 OCT 2026 · 25/25
Japan has confirmed a Tuesday, 20 October, launch for a mission designed to return samples from Phobos, one of Mars’s two moons. If successful, it would be the first return of material collected directly from a Martian moon.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, announced the timing on Sunday. An H3 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Tanegashima at 4:41am Japan time, or 1:41am in Bangladesh.
The Martian Moons eXploration spacecraft, known as MMX, aims to collect at least 10 grammes of material. Scientists hope the samples will help establish whether Phobos and the smaller moon Deimos formed after a collision involving Mars or were asteroids captured by its gravity.
The spacecraft is expected to reach the Mars region in August 2027, conduct observations for about three years and return to Earth in 2031. It will study Deimos without landing there.
A rover developed by France and Germany will inspect Phobos’s surface to help identify safe sampling sites. NASA and other international partners are providing equipment and communications support.
Landing will be difficult because Phobos has extremely weak gravity and a heavily cratered surface. Samples brought back to Earth could be examined with laboratory instruments unavailable aboard the spacecraft.