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Space

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.

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

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