Astronomy News
MMX Objectives: Unraveling the Mysteries of Mars and its Moons
With just six days to go before the October 20, 2026 scheduled launch, anticipation is building up for the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, let us look beyond the journey itself and ask the bigger question;
What can we hope to learn from the planet Mars and its moons?
CR: JAXA
Bringing a piece of another world back to Earth is only the beginning, MMX mission is designed to do far more than collect a sample from Phobos. While sample return is one of its significant milestones, it is only part of a much broader scientific endeavor. It aims to investigate the origins of Phobos and Deimos, study how the Martian system has evolved over time and examine the history of water and trace its movement throughout the Solar System. The mission will also advance technologies for more future space exploration, making it an important step forward in exploring beyond Earth.
One of MMX’s central objectives is to investigate the origins of Phobos and Deimos. Despite decades of observations, scientists have not yet settled whether the Martian moons are asteroids captured by Mars’s gravity or formed from debris following a major impact on Mars. Their composition and physical characteristics may preserve clues to their beginnings. Researchers hope to test these competing explanations and improve our understanding of how planetary systems formed.
Another objective is to better understand the evolution of Mars and its environment. Evidence on the Martian surface shows that liquid water once flowed there, but Mars is now cold and dry, with a thin atmosphere. Where did its water come from, and how did the planet lose so much of its atmosphere and water over time? Phobos may hold useful evidence. Impacts on Mars can eject rocks and dust into space, and some of this material may eventually settle on the nearby moon. If the MMX sample contains fragments of Mars, scientists can examine their minerals and chemical properties and look for clues to how the planet’s surface environment changed through time.
In the colder regions beyond the frost line, water and other volatile compounds could remain frozen in ice. Asteroids, comets, and interplanetary dust may have carried water-bearing and organic materials from these regions toward the inner Solar System, where the rocky planets formed. Because Mars lies near this boundary, studying the origins and composition of its moons may offer clues to the movement of material between different parts of the early Solar System. How did water and other materials move through the early Solar System? These findings could help researchers explore how water reached Mars and possibly other rocky planets, including Earth.
The material on Phobos may tell more than one story. Its surface soil could include material native to the moon as well as fragments ejected from Mars by ancient impacts.To help unravel this history on-site, the spacecraft carries the Idefix rover developed jointly by France’s space agency CNES and Germany’s DLR which will roll across Phobos' low-gravity surface to study its terrain up close before sample collection begins. Studying possible Martian material on Phobos may provide a way to investigate Mars’s past without collecting a sample directly from its surface, while material from Phobos itself may help reveal the moon’s own origin. Together, these lines of evidence can contribute to a wider understanding of the Martian system and environments relevant to the origins of life.
Alongside its scientific goals, MMX is designed to advance technologies needed for future space exploration. The mission will help demonstrate the ability to travel to and from the Martian system, operate robotic systems around a small moon, collect surface samples in a low-gravity environment, and communicate across deep space. These capabilities could support more ambitious robotic missions and help prepare for future crewed exploration. Researchers will also gather detailed information about Phobos’s surface, terrain, and surrounding environment to assess its potential as a staging point for future missions to Mars. Using Phobos in this way remains a possibility for future exploration, not an established plan.
The mission will also carry a Super Hi-Vision (SHV) camera developed jointly by JAXA and Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK). Designed to capture ultra-high-definition 4K and 8K images, the camera will record Mars and its moons at close range, adding another way to observe the Martian system while demonstrating advanced imaging technology in space.
The answers will not come from a single discovery, but from combining evidence gathered around Mars with detailed analysis back on Earth.
More mysteries and more discoveries, stay tuned for our upcoming articles as we continue to countdown for JAXA’s upcoming MMX launch.
Text: Rika Mei Reventar, Matipon Tangmatitham