Asia | 26 October 2026
The story in brief
Japan has launched a spacecraft towards Phobos, one of the two moons that travel around Mars.
The spacecraft will try to collect material from the moon's surface and bring it back to Earth.
Japan's space agency hopes this will help explain how Mars's moons formed.
Who is involved?
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Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA): Japan's national space agency, which is leading the mission.
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Martian Moons eXploration (MMX): The name of the spacecraft and its mission.
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Phobos: The larger of Mars's two moons and the spacecraft's destination.
What happened?
On 20 October, Japan launched the MMX spacecraft from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan.
The spacecraft lifted off aboard an H3 rocket before sunrise.
It is not carrying any people.
This is the first time Japan has used its H3 rocket to send a spacecraft towards another planet.
What is the background?
Mars is a planet in our solar system.
It has two small moons.
The larger one is called Phobos.
A moon is a natural object that travels around a planet.
Phobos has an unusual shape.
It measures about 27 kilometres across at its longest point.
It travels around Mars three times each day.
Scientists are still trying to understand how Mars's two moons formed.
Why does it matter?
The mission aims to collect at least 10 grams of material from Phobos.
Scientists will study this material when it returns to Earth.
They hope it will help explain where Mars's moons came from and how our solar system developed.
If it succeeds, it will be the first mission to bring material from Phobos back to Earth.
What happens next?
The spacecraft is expected to reach Mars in August 2027.
It will then attempt to collect material from Phobos.
If the mission goes as planned, the material will return to Earth in 2031.
Source: Reuters, 20 October 2026