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NASA is contributing an instrument, a sampling mechanism, and communications and navigation support to Martian Moons eXploration (MMX), a mission led by Japan’s space agency, JAXA. MMX is designed to study both Phobos and Deimos, collect material from Phobos, and return it to Earth—evidence that could help explain how Mars got its moons.
How did Mars get its moons?
Scientists are weighing two leading explanations. In the giant-impact hypothesis, a large collision with Mars threw debris into orbit, where it eventually formed the moons. In the captured-asteroid hypothesis, Mars’s gravity drew in objects that had been orbiting the Sun. Neither explanation has been established.
MMX is intended to test the ideas using several kinds of evidence: the moons’ composition, internal structure, shape, gravity, surface features, and orbital context. Material collected from Phobos can also be examined in laboratories on Earth. JAXA says the mission aims to return more than 10 grams of Phobos material. The amount is a mission goal, not a guarantee of what will be collected.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsJAXA project manager Yasuhiro Kawakatsu has described the broader goal this way: “By bringing home samples from Phobos, we hope to explore how the Martian moons were formed, how the Mars sphere evolved, and how the water and organic materials found on the terrestrial planets originated.”
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What is NASA sending to Mars’ moons?
MMX has eleven scientific instruments, according to JAXA. They are intended to examine the moons and their environment from different angles; no single instrument will determine the moons’ origin on its own.
NASA’s MEGANE composition instrument
NASA’s MEGANE instrument will detect gamma rays and neutrons produced when cosmic rays interact with the moons’ surfaces, along with signals associated with natural radioactivity. The energies of those emissions can help scientists infer which elements are present in Phobos’s surface material. That elemental evidence can then be compared with expectations for material from Mars or primitive asteroids.
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Cameras, laser altimeter, and infrared mapping
- TENGOO, a narrow-angle camera, is designed to image terrain at a stated resolution of about 40 centimeters, according to JAXA.
- OROCHI is a wide-angle multispectral camera for studying surface materials.
- LIDAR measures reflected laser light to estimate surface altitude and albedo, or reflectivity.
- MIRS observes near-infrared light from 0.9 to 3.6 microns. JAXA says its measurements will help map hydrous minerals, water-related substances, and possible organic matter.
IDEFIX rover and sampling hardware
The IDEFIX rover, developed jointly by France’s CNES and Germany’s DLR, is intended to make measurements on Phobos. Its observations of the surface material, or regolith, should help characterize the terrain and reduce uncertainty around landing and sampling operations.
MMX carries two sampling mechanisms. The C-Sampler uses a robotic arm and corer designed to reach subsurface material up to 2 centimeters deep. The P-Sampler, a NASA contribution fabricated by Honeybee Robotics, uses pressurized gas to loft surface material into a sample container. A return capsule is designed to carry the collected material through Earth’s atmosphere.
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How could the sample distinguish between the origin theories?
A sample is useful because the two hypotheses imply different histories for the moons’ material. If Phobos formed largely from debris produced by an impact on Mars, its composition and mineral signatures may show a relationship to Martian material. If it is a captured asteroid, the sample may instead resemble primitive asteroid material. Those are expected clues to test, not outcomes already known.
Scientists will interpret the sample alongside MMX’s remote observations and measurements of Phobos and Deimos. Surface composition, interior structure, topography, gravity, and the moons’ orbital setting all contribute to the picture. Laboratory analysis can investigate details that spacecraft instruments cannot resolve remotely, but it must be considered together with the mission’s other evidence.
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When will the Phobos sample return to Earth?
NASA’s October 8, 2026 mission update lists the following as plans: launch from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on October 20, 2026 (October 19 in U.S. Eastern Daylight Time), arrival at Mars in August 2027, Phobos sample collection no earlier than December 2028, and sample return to Earth in 2031. JAXA describes recovery of the capsule in Australia. These are prospective dates, not completed mission milestones.
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Astronomer Asaph Hall discovered both moons in 1877, according to NASA. Phobos is the larger and closer moon: NASA says it is about 6,000 kilometers above Mars’s surface and orbits Mars three times a day. Deimos takes about 30 hours to complete an orbit.
Phobos is also slowly spiraling inward. NASA gives an approximate rate of 1.8 meters per century and says it may eventually crash into Mars or break apart into a ring within 50 million years. That long-range estimate describes a possible future, not a precise forecast.
Who is behind MMX?
JAXA leads MMX, with participation from NASA, CNES, DLR, and the European Space Agency (ESA). Beyond its science objectives, JAXA identifies long-distance travel to the Martian system, access to planetary moons, reliable deep-space communications, and advanced sampling as technology goals. NASA’s contribution also includes communications and navigation support through the Deep Space Network.
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