Japan’s JAXA space agency plans to travel to a natural satellite of Mars to collect samples. As explained by JAXA, they intend to bring 10 grams of the surface of Phobos to examine the remains of Martian soil that it may contain.

The Chinese rover ‘Zhurong’ has completed its mission on Mars, what is its next objective?

Japan wants to gain ground from the United States and China when it comes to exploring Mars . The country recently announced that they intend to reach Phobos with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Phobos is the larger of the two natural satellites orbiting the red planet (the other is Deimos, of which NASA recently posted a video ). JAXA intends to set foot on its surface in 2024 with the purpose of collecting samples and bringing them to Earth for research in 2029.

As explained , JAXA will launch a Martian Moons eXploration (MXX) in 2024 to the natural satellite Phobos. This celestial body is located approximately 9 thousand kilometers from Mars. The mission has the objective of obtaining 10 grams of Martian soil sample to study the evolution of the planet’s biosphere.

According to the Japanese aerospace agency, 0.1% of the soil of this natural satellite comes from Mars. Therefore, Yasuhiro Kawakatsu, head of the project, believes that in those 10 grams collected supposedly there should be about 30 granules from the Martian surface.

The first tests were carried out in October 2020.
On the other hand, Tomohiro Usui, a professor at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences, considers that examining samples from different areas of Phobos increases the chances of finding traces of extraterrestrial life .

For now, we still have to wait for JAXA to finally fulfill this mission and see if the hypotheses of the Japanese experts are true.

Japan’s JAXA space agency plans to travel to a natural satellite of Mars to collect samples. As explained by JAXA, they intend to bring 10 grams of the surface of Phobos to examine the remains of Martian soil that it may contain.

The Chinese rover ‘Zhurong’ has completed its mission on Mars, what is its next objective?

Japan wants to gain ground from the United States and China when it comes to exploring Mars . The country recently announced that they intend to reach Phobos with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Phobos is the larger of the two natural satellites orbiting the red planet (the other is Deimos, of which NASA recently posted a video ). JAXA intends to set foot on its surface in 2024 with the purpose of collecting samples and bringing them to Earth for research in 2029.

As explained , JAXA will launch a Martian Moons eXploration (MXX) in 2024 to the natural satellite Phobos. This celestial body is located approximately 9 thousand kilometers from Mars. The mission has the objective of obtaining 10 grams of Martian soil sample to study the evolution of the planet’s biosphere.

According to the Japanese aerospace agency, 0.1% of the soil of this natural satellite comes from Mars. Therefore, Yasuhiro Kawakatsu, head of the project, believes that in those 10 grams collected supposedly there should be about 30 granules from the Martian surface.

The first tests were carried out in October 2020.
On the other hand, Tomohiro Usui, a professor at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences, considers that examining samples from different areas of Phobos increases the chances of finding traces of extraterrestrial life .

For now, we still have to wait for JAXA to finally fulfill this mission and see if the hypotheses of the Japanese experts are true.