Martian Moons eXploration

Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) is a robotic space probe set for launch in 2026 to bring back the first samples from Mars' largest moon Phobos. Developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and announced on 9 June 2015, MMX will land and collect samples from Phobos once or twice, along with conducting Deimos flyby observations and monitoring Mars's climate.

The mission aims to provide key information to help determine whether the Martian moons are captured asteroids or the result of a larger body hitting Mars. JAXA and other Japanese government officials officially approved the MMX project to proceed into development on 19 February 2020.

The probe arrived at Japan's Tanegashima Space Center on March 31, 2026, and it is expected to launch towards Mars in October 20, 2026 during the year's launch window.

Overview

The spacecraft will enter orbit around Mars before transferring to Phobos, where it will land once or twice and collect regolith samples using a pneumatic sampling system. The mission is designed to return at least of material from the moon's surface. After departing Phobos, the spacecraft will conduct several flybys of Deimos before releasing a return capsule for Earth, with sample return planned for 2031.NASA confirms contribution to Japanese-led Mars mission Stephen Clark, Spaceflight Now 20 November 2017

The spacecraft has a total launch mass of approximately , including about of propellant. The spacecraft consists of three major elements: a propulsion module, a exploration module, and a return module.Japanese mission of the two moons of Mars with sample return from Phobos Hirdy Miyamoto, University of Tokyo 2016

Because Phobos and Deimos have insufficient mass to support conventional satellite orbits, MMX will operate in quasi-satellite orbits (QSOs), a class of trajectories that can remain stable for extended periods while staying in close proximity to the moons.Quasi-Satellite Orbits around Deimos and Phobos motivated by the DePhine Mission Proposal Sofya Spiridonova, Kai Wickhusen, Ralph Kahle, and Jürgen Oberst; DLR, German Space Operations Center, Germany 2017Orbit Maintenance of Quasi-Satellite Trajectories via Mean Relative Orbit Elements Nicola Baresi, Lamberto Dell'Elce, Josué Cardoso dos Santos, and Yasuhiro Kawakatsu International Astronautical Congress, Bremen, Germany, 2018

The mission is led by Yasuhiro Kawakatsu.Kawakatsu Lab Homepage Deep Space Mission Design Laboratory (DSMDL) Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS)/JAXA, 2017

International collaboration MMX is led by JAXA, with participation from NASA, France's CNES, Germany's DLR, and the European Space Agency (ESA), who are providing scientific instruments.

NASA will contribute a neutron and gamma-ray spectrometer called MEGANE (an acronym for Mars-moon Exploration with GAmma rays and NEutrons, which also means "eyeglasses" in Japanese).Back to the Red Planet Johns Hopkins APL 17 November 2017 CNES will provide the Near IR Spectrometer (NIRS4/MacrOmega). CNES is also contributing expertise in flight dynamics to plan the mission's orbiting and landing manoeuvres.How to find the best samples on a moon: Building relationships and solving engineering challenges in France JAXA News 4 December 2017

Development and testing of key components, including the sampler, is ongoing. As of December 2023, MMX is scheduled to be launched in 2026, and will return to Earth five years later in 2031.

ESA will provide deep space communication equipment: a transponder and power amplifier, and will provide ground station support from the Estrack network.

The sample-return capsule will land in Australia.

Spacecraft instruments MMX will have seven scientific instruments:

TENGOO – TElescopic Nadir imager for GeOmOrphology, a narrow field camera for detailed terrain study OROCHI – Optical RadiOmeter composed of CHromatic Imagers, a wide field visible light camera LIDAR – Light Detection and Ranging, uses a laser to reflect light from the moon's surface, to study surface altitude and albedo MIRS – MMX InfraRed Spectrometer, a near-infrared observation device for characterizing the minerals that make up the moons of Mars. Developed in partnership with CNES, France MEGANE – (MEGANE means "eyeglasses" in Japanese) Mars-moon Exploration with GAmma rays and NEutrons, a gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer developed by NASA, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory CMDM – Circum-Martian Dust Monitor, a dust counting device for characterizing the environment around the Martian moons MSA – Mass Spectrum Analyzer, an instrument to study the ion environment around Mars

JAXA will partner with the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) to develop the "Super Hi-Vision Camera" which combines a 4K and 8K camera, making it the first time that Mars will be imaged in 8K resolution. Images will be regularly transmitted back to Earth with flight data, in order to recreate MMX exploration around Mars and its moons. The original image data will be stored in a recording device in MMX's return capsule and brought back to Earth as part of the sample-return portion of the mission.

The Gravity GradioMeter (GGM), Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS), Mission Survival Module (MSM) were proposed as additional instruments.

Idefix rover

Following a study by the French CNES space agency, it was decided that the spacecraft will deliver a small rover provided by CNES and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). IDEFIX is a rover weighing less than 30 kg, and is named after Idéfix, the French name for Dogmatix, Obelix's dog in the French comic Asterix. The name Idefix (without acute accent) is also used for the character in the German translation. Besides its native France the Asterix series has been particularly successful in Germany — out of 350 million comic books sold worldwide by 2013, 130 million were in the French original while 120 million were in German.

It will be equipped with cameras, a radiometer, and a Raman spectrometer for in-situ surface exploration. The instruments are: two navigation cameras (NavCams), two cameras (WheelCams) "that will observe the interactions of the back and front wheels with the regolith", a Raman spectrometer (RAX) and a miniaturized radiometer (miniRad).

Its objectives are to touch the surface of Phobos, to check the behaviour of the surface under mechanical actions and to relay this information to Earth. It must also demonstrate that it is possible to use wheeled locomotion on a body with such low gravity. Finally, it will take measurements in situ, observing the ground of Phobos at a resolution of 100 μm, and moving around on it.

Sampling

MMX's sampler is equipped with two sampling methods: the Coring Sampler (C-SMP) to gain regolith at depths deeper than 2 cm from the Phobos surface, and the Pneumatic Sampler (P-SMP) for samples from the Phobos surface. The robotic arm will collect regolith from the ground by shooting the C-SMP mechanism. The C-SMP mechanism is designed to rapidly perform subsurface sampling to collect over 10 grams of the regolith. It is equipped with an ejecting actuator that uses a special shape memory alloy, SCSMA.Hiroki Kato, Yasutaka Satou, Kent Yoshikawa, Masatsugu Otsuki, Hirotaka Sawada, Takeshi Kuratomi, and Nana Hidaka, "Subsurface Sampling Robot for Time-limited Asteroid Exploration," 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Las Vegas, NV, USA, 2020, pp. 1925–1932, doi: 10.1109/IROS45743.2020.9340645.90 minutes on the clock! Discussing the MMX sampling device with JAXA robotic specialist Hiroki Kato, JAXA News 7 June 2022 P-SMP is installed close to the footpad of the landing leg, and uses an air gun to puff pressurized gas, pushing about 10 grams of soil into the sample container.Preparing for the unexpected: a second way to sample a moon Yasutaka Satou, JAXA News 25 October 2017 Both C-SMP and P-SMP can collect samples quickly because the entire sampling procedure is scheduled to be performed in only 2.5 hours.

After taking a sample, the robotic arm will transfer both C-SMP and P-SMP canisters to the sample return capsule. The spacecraft will then make several flybys of the smaller moon Deimos before carrying the Sample Return Capsule back to Earth, arriving in 2031.

A Monte Carlo study based on realistic constrains illustrate that the mission has clear opportunities to discover organic residues

See also Phobos program Fobos-Grunt Mars sample-return mission

Martian Moons eXploration

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