Astronomy News
7 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Miss the MMX Launch
Tomorrow, October 20, 2026, Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is scheduled to launch from the Tanegashima Space Center, beginning an exciting journey to explore Phobos, one of Mars’s mysterious moons, and bring samples back to Earth. JAXA’s MMX mission could unlock new clues about the origins of the Martian moons and the evolution of our Solar System.
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What makes this much-anticipated mission so special? As we count down to launch, here are seven things to know about MMX before its historic launch!
1. First Round Trip to the Martian System
MMX aims to become the first spacecraft to travel to the Martian system and successfully return to Earth. Although spacecraft have visited Mars, and plans are underway to bring Martian samples back to Earth, no spacecraft has yet completed a round trip from the Martian system to Earth. This would make MMX one of the farthest round-trip space exploration missions humanity has ever undertaken.
2. Finding Clues to the Origin of Phobos
When MMX returns to Earth in approximately five years, it will mark the first time scientists can study samples collected from the Martian system directly in laboratories on Earth. Although scientists have studied Martian rocks through spacecraft instruments and Martian meteorites that have fallen to Earth, MMX will provide material collected directly from Phobos.
While MMX’s primary target is one of the moons of Mars, scientists believe Phobos’s surface may contain material ejected from Mars by meteorite impacts over hundreds of millions of years. Studying these samples could provide clues about the history of water on Mars and help scientists understand why liquid water can no longer persist on its surface today. Such findings may also offer insights into planetary changes that could help us better understand Earth’s future.
3. The First Samples from a Moon of Mars
MMX will attempt to collect the first samples from a natural satellite of a planet other than Earth. Phobos is one of the most mysterious moons in the Solar System. Scientists have proposed that it may be a captured asteroid or a moon formed from debris following a major impact on Mars. Whatever its true origin, MMX will bring us one step closer to finding the answer.
4. The First Close-Up 4K and 8K Footage of a Martian Moon
One of the instruments aboard MMX is the Super Hi-Vision (SHV) camera system. Unlike the mission’s other instruments, which primarily collect scientific data, these cameras are designed to capture high-resolution 4K and 8K footage to inspire and engage the public. The footage will help students around the world imagine what it is like to travel around the moon of another planet, offering a perspective unlike anything they have seen before.
5.Quasi-Satellite Orbit Around Phobos
Because of Phobos’s extremely weak gravity and its close orbit around Mars, MMX cannot remain in a conventional orbit around the moon. Instead, the mission will use a Quasi-Satellite Orbit (QSO), a type of orbit not previously used for a scientific exploration mission of this kind. Although MMX will orbit Mars, it will move alongside Phobos, allowing the spacecraft to observe the moon from different directions without requiring excessive amounts of fuel.
6. IDEFIX Rover in Extremely Weak Gravity
Before MMX attempts its sample collection, it will deploy a small rover called IDEFIX. The rover will be the first wheeled exploration vehicle designed to operate in an ultra-low-gravity environment. Phobos has only about one-thousandth of Earth's gravitational acceleration, meaning that a rover weighing 25 kilograms on Earth would experience a gravitational force, roughly 12 grams under Phobos's gravity.
7. A Closer Look at the Martian Moons Than Ever Before
With its suite of scientific instruments and an extended period of operations around Phobos, MMX aims to conduct one of the most detailed investigations ever undertaken of a moon beyond Earth's own. The mission will collect valuable data about Phobos’s physical properties, surface features, craters, and terrain, revealing details that have never been observed so closely before. Five years from now, the images of Phobos in our textbook is going to look very different from those we see today.
Each space mission brings new questions, new challenges, and new opportunities for discovery. With MMX, we are one step closer to uncovering the mysteries of Phobos and Deimos and understanding the origins and evolution of the Martian moons. What secrets might these distant worlds reveal, and what new discoveries await us?
The countdown is almost over! Get ready to follow this historic mission and learn more about the journey ahead through the links below.
Pre-Launch Briefing
Learn more about the MMX spacecraft and its launch aboard the H3 Launch Vehicle in Flight No. 10. Watch the Pre-Launch Briefing on YouTube
MMX Launch Livestream
Tune in to JAXA’s official YouTube livestream on October 20, 2026, beginning at approximately 1:46 AM Thailand time, and join us in witnessing the next step in humanity’s exploration of the Martian moons as the launch is set to happen at around 2:41 AM Thailand time. Watch the MMX Launch Livestream (English)
The next chapter in our exploration of the Martian moons is about to begin, stay tuned as we wait for the MMX mission’s historic launch!