Japan is launching a spacecraft on a groundbreaking mission to Phobos, the larger of Mars' two moons. Scheduled to launch on Monday, the mission marks the first attempt to land on a Martian moon and return samples to Earth. By launching this probe, Japan gains a head start over China in the race to be the first to return samples from the Red Planet or its moons.
Led by the Japanese space agency JAXA, the five-year international mission involves a collaboration between five of the world's space agencies. The mission intends to land a robotic prospector and a rover on the potato-shaped moon. The spacecraft is expected to reach Mars in August 2027, where it will collect at least 10 grams of surface material for analysis on Earth.
Scientists hope that bringing soil back from Phobos will unlock new clues about the history of the solar system. The mission aims to provide insight into how Phobos and its smaller sibling, Deimos, formed. Ultimately, these samples could shed light on the origins of the solar system and the origins of life on Earth.