Japanese space agency JAXA is sending a mission to explore the two moons of Mars and even plan to bring a rock sample from Phobos back to Earth.
The Martian Moon Exploration (MMX) mission is due to launch in 2024 and will involve a spacecraft first orbiting Deimos before landing on the larger Phobos.
While it is on the surface of Phobos the lander will become the first to collect a sample of rock from a moon orbiting another planet.
The £322million project will launch in 2024 and could see the sample returned back to Earth as soon as 2029, the Japanese agency confirmed.
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Japanese space agency JAXA is sending a mission to explore the two moons of Mars and even plan to bring a rock sample from Phobos back to Earth
The spacecraft will have a sampler on board that will land on Phobos, collect rock samples and then bring them back to Earth
The Martian moons are small and have a lot in common with asteroids – Phobos is the largest with a 13.8 mile diameter, Deimos is 7.8 miles in diameter.
This has prompted speculation over whether they are captured asteroids or fragments expelled from an impact with the Red Planet.
JAXA wants to understand how they formed and believe this mission will provide all the data needed to solve that puzzle.
To achieve that goal they will send a spacecraft to Martian space that will enter orbit around Mars. It will then move into a Quasi Satellite Orbit around the moons.
While there it will photograph and collect data on the Moons, before moving to Phebos where it will land.
The agency will be the first to land on the surface of the moons with the aim of capturing and returning soil samples – although others have considered the idea.
“Understanding the origin and evolution of the planets that leads to the start of life” is one of today’s key scientific goals,’ said JAXA
‘As Mars is thought to have once had a surface environment similar to the Earth with the potential for life, the planet is one of the most important exploration targets.’
In 2020 there are several missions going to Mars itself, including landers from the European Space Agency, NASA and the China National Space Administration.
NASA Mars 2020 will collect rock samples that will be collect by a ESA mission due to be launched about a decade later and then returned to Earth – but they won’t sample the moons of the Red Planet.
WHAT IS PHOBOS LIKE AND WHAT DOES THE NAME MEAN?
Named after the mythological Greek character for panic or fear
JAXA think Phobos may have ancient Martian soil on its surface
- Diameter: 13.8miles
- Orbital period: 7.66 hours
- Distance from Mars: 3,700miles
- Discovered: 18 August 1877
- Gets closer to Mars by about 6.5ft every one hundred years
- Tidally locked to Mars
WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM DEIMOS AND HOW BIG IS IT?
Named after the Greek mythological character for terror or dread
Deimos has an odd shape and more in common with an asteroid
- Diameter 7.8miles
- Orbital period: 30.35 hours
- Distance from Mars: 14,580miles
- Discovered: 12 August 1877
- Is slowly moving away from Mars
- Tidally locked to Mars
JAXA says they expect the Martian moons to have accumulated sediment that was ejected from Mars over billions of years.
‘Observing the moons will therefore provide information on the evolution of the Martian surface,’ the space agency said.
‘Moreover, if the moons were formed during a collision between Mars and gigantic asteroids, the moon material will reveal the original conditions on Mars during this early time, offering insights into the planet’s formation and its young environment.
‘Alternatively, if the moons are captured asteroids, their composition will help clarify the transport process of volatile components (such as water) needed for habitability.’
Other instruments on the spacecraft, launching in 2024, include multiple cameras that can capture the details of the surface in fine detail
They won’t just collect and return samples though, JAXA also plans to perform a number of remote sensing operations of Mars and its moons.
Using infrared light you can see that the surface of Phobos is not uniform, which suggests it has materials on it that may have come from Mars itself, the team said.
They don’t know exactly where they are going to take samples from to get the best scientific output, but are working with international researchers to pin point a place.
‘Observation data obtained by remote sensing instruments will be used to determine the sampling locations,’ they said.
The spacecraft system being developed by JAXA for the mission will consist of several subsystems and a lander.
Within the subsystems will be a number of scientific instruments, data processing tools, and a way to control temperature of the craft and instruments.
JAXA is working with ESA and NASA on the mission, with the other agencies contributing technologies for examining the surface of the moon
The two main parts of the spacecraft will be the sampler that will land, capture samples and bring them back safely – the other is the ground segment.
This will include antennas for operating the spacecraft and sending commands to the lander to receive measurement data and relay it back to Earth.
The ship will include a telescopic camera for observaing the detailed terrain on the surface of Phobos with images at a resolution of about 15inches.
It will also have a wide angle camera to observe the topography and material composition of the Moon – capturing images in visible light at multiple wavelengths.
There will be a lidar device to observe the shape of the surface, MacrOmega to examine minerals in near infrared and a gamma ray and neutron observatory.
Yasuhiro Kawakatse, Project Manager for MMX said it was going to be a challenging but rewarding mission for planetary science.
‘Researchers and engineers from all over the world are heavily engaged in this mission study, with the aim for launch in 2024.’