The miniRAD Radiometer For The IDEFIX Rover on Martian Moons eXploration

Kurzfassung

The Martian moons exploration, MMX, is JAXA’s sample return mission targeting the two Martian moons Phobos and Deimos and is scheduled to launch in 2026 to return samples from Phobos to Earth in 2031 [1]. The main scientific goal of the mission is to determine the origin of Phobos and Deimos and to investigate the evolution of the Martian moons. MMX will study the Martian system for 3 years and perform close-up observations of Phobos, while carrying out multiple flyby’s of Deimos. Finally, the mission will collect samples from Phobos before returning to Earth. The MMX Rover IDEFIX [2] is one of the MMX payloads and will investigate Phobos in-situ using a suite of scientific instruments comprised of a pair of stereo navigation cameras, another two cameras mounted underneath the rover to study the wheel-regolith interaction, a Raman spectrometer to study the mineralogical composition of Phobos’ surface material, and the miniRAD radiometer to study the material’s thermophysical and mineralogical properties.