Japan Launches Historic MMX Mission to Collect Samples from Mars Moon Phobos

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully launched its Martian Moons eXploration spacecraft on an H3 rocket from Tanegashima Space Center on October 19, 2026, at 3:41 p.m. EDT. The 4,480-kilogram spacecraft is now on a ten-month cruise trajectory to Mars, with arrival in orbit expected in August 2027. MMX will spend roughly three years studying both Phobos and the smaller moon Deimos before attempting to land on Phobos and collect at least ten grams of surface material. The sample-return capsule is expected to parachute down to Australia in 2031, delivering what would be humanity's first physical specimens from a Martian moon. Scientists hope the samples will settle a long-standing debate over whether Phobos is a captured asteroid or a fragment ejected from Mars itself in an ancient impact. The mission is led by JAXA in partnership with NASA, ESA, the French space agency CNES, and the German Aerospace Center DLR; NASA has reserved at least fifteen percent of the returned material for its own analysis. Post-launch status coverage remained among the most-read space stories across international outlets through October 23.