Space probe launched to Mars satellite, sample collection, round trip in 5 years - "MMX" on board H3, JAXA

At 4:41 a.m. on the 20th, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched H3 rocket No. 10 carrying the Mars satellite explorer "MMX" from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture. Approximately 1 hour and 11 minutes later, MMX was injected into the planned orbit and the launch was successful.

MMX is a spacecraft that will approach Mars' first moon, Phobos, land, and bring back sand. If successful, the collection of samples from a Martian moon and the round trip to the Martian sphere will be the first of its kind in the world, and are expected to yield results that will help elucidate the history of the formation of Mars and its moons, as well as the origins of life on Earth.

It consists of three modules that can be separated from parts that are no longer needed as the mission progresses, and weighs approximately 4.5 tons at launch. About a year later, it will be placed into orbit around Mars and approach Phobos. After determining the landing site from a scientific and safety perspective through detailed observations of the earth's surface, the spacecraft aims to make two landings in 2029 and collect a sample weighing more than 10 grams.

After the Phobos exploration, close-up observations of the second satellite "Deimos" were also carried out. The mission is to return to Earth in 2031, with plans to drop a sample capsule and collect it in the Australian desert.