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Japan is sending a rover to Mars's moon Phobos in 2024

The Martian Moons eXploration mission is slated to launch for Phobos in September 2024 – once it gets there, it will drop off a rover, pick up some samples and head home

By Leah Crane

28 December 2023

MMX mission

The MMX mission will visit the Martian moon Phobos

JAXA

Update: The launch date of this mission has been moved to 2026.

A piece of Mars’s biggest moon is coming back to Earth. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is sending a spacecraft to Phobos to examine its surface and bring back samples that should help researchers figure out exactly how this strange moon formed.

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A mysterious, incredibly energetic cosmic ray has smashed into Earth

The Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is slated to launch from Tanegashima Space Center…

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