PHOBOS SAMPLE RETURN BY THE MARTIAN MOONS EXPLORATION (MMX) MISSION

Kurzfassung

The Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), is the first sample return mission of a Martian moon. MMX is scheduled for launch in October 2026, and the primary objective of the mission is to collect samples from the surface of Phobos. More than 10 grams of material will be collected from two distinct regions using coring and pneumatic sampling devices, and the samples will return to Earth in 2031. Prior to this, extensive observations of Phobos will be conducted to select the most scientifically valuable sampling sites using the MMX onboard instrumentation, comprising imaging systems (TENGOO and OROCHI), an infrared spectroimager (MIRS), a neutron and gamma-ray spectrometers (MEGANE), a laser rangefinder (LIDAR), a mass spectrometer (MSA), a dust monitoring instrument (CMDM). The surface of Phobos will alsobe investigated in-situ with the rover IDEFIX.