Since the first time I saw a reference to MMX - the Martian Moon eXploration - mission, I've been looking forward to this. The vast majority of the time up to now that's just been noting its place in the NextSpaceflight lineup and keeping an eye on it. It has been set on a date that we've been closing in on, and is now scheduled for a launch Monday, US Eastern time. In Japan it's 4:41:03 JST on Oct. 20 - which is 3:41:03 PM EDT / 1941:03 UTC on Monday Oct. 19. Spaceflight Now adds:
An H3 launch vehicle, a rocket developed through a partnership between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), will launch the Martian Moons eXplorer (MMX) mission to survey the Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos. This is set to be the first sample return mission from the Martian sphere of influence with the samples from Phobos expected to return to Earth in fiscal year 2031. The mission is supported by NASA, CNES, DLR, and ESA.
Next Spaceflight's mission page adds:
A small French rover, built in cooperation with Germany, will also be embarked on the mission and should be able to explore the moon's surface.
To me, the mission is one to watch for a variety of reasons. The obvious first one is that no probe from any nation has ever visited the Martian moons before. Compared to Earth's moon, the Martian moons are tiny so it'll be interesting to see them actually land on Phobos (their target) and maneuver around on the surface to get the mission done. Granted that small probes don't sneeze, but I think if any of us could sneeze on Phobos, it would be enough to reach escape velocity. (Warning: Do Not Try This at Home on Phobos- simply not wearing your space suit would be fatal)
Finally, there's the whole matter of returning the samples gathered by their Rover and compare that to the samples obtained by the Perseverance Rover currently on Mars. When that mission was conceived, the plans were for Percy (the Rover) to pick some interesting samples, store them in titanium tubes ("the size of a large hot dog") onboard the rover and wait for some miracle mission out of nowhere to send a spacecraft to retrieve the samples and then fly them back to Earth. That's an exaggeration, but not a huge one. The bottom line is that NASA gave up on the Sample Return in 2024 after a couple of attempts to come up something they could afford. They had expected to pay $4.4 Billion for a mission to go get those samples, and cancelled when the Requested Proposals were in the range of $8 billion to $11 billion.
NASA's (Science.NASA.gov) web page on this mission goes into details on NASA's contributions to the mission.
“The samples from MMX will bring forth paradigm-shifting science on the Mars system for generations to come, especially as NASA prepares to send the first humans to Mars,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington. ...
NASA’s contributions to the mission include the Mars-moon Exploration with Gamma rays and Neutrons (MEGANE) spectrograph instrument, the Pneumatic Sampler (P-Sampler) technology demonstration, and communications and navigation support from the agency’s Deep Space Network, as well as funding United States scientists participating on the MMX science team.
The MEGANE (pronounced meh-GAH-nay, the Japanese word for eyeglasses) spectrograph will help scientists “see” what Phobos is made of by measuring neutrons and gamma rays emitted from the moon’s surface and determining its chemical elemental composition, which will provide important clues about its origin.
An artist’s concept of JAXA’s MMX spacecraft during its Mars’ orbit insertion.
The Martian moon Phobos, which MMX will explore and sample, is in the
background. Image credit: JAXA
I'm planning and hoping to watch this mission begin on Monday afternoon.
Phobos' orbits Mars faster than Mars rotates, so in the Martian sky it appears to move from West to East, unlike most other moons in our solar system.
ReplyDeleteSee what you can learn from watching Red Horizon on YouTube???
I've been reading lately that some of the results from Mars probes are saying the dust that blows around is very toxic. It's not like people could walk around without a suit on, but it does complicate things. It would be really cool to watch that, though.
DeleteOT - if the bandwagon 5 flies tomorrow morning, it may be another jellyfish launch, and its trajectory is to the SE.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've been keeping an eye on weather conditions and if it looks promising. This one is toward the SE so good for me overall, I just don't know about the important stuff, like angle of the sun and the grayline.
DeleteI mostly only know Mar's moons from Edgar Rice Burroughs and Barsoom, where he often speaks of the fast moving shadows of night given the speed of their orbit in the sky.
ReplyDeleteIn one of his books (Swords of Mars) he sends John Carter to one of moons. In order to get around the fact that the moon is so much smaller, he concocts a theory that because of the relationship of Barsoom and her moons, one "shrinks" in size as one goes to the moon and then "expands" as one returns to Barsoom. I cannot imagine that imaginary theory went over well even in the 1930's, when the story was published.
Somebody worked overtime on the name MEGANE.
ReplyDeleteWhat does the so-called probability market say about hitting toxic Martian soil with gamma rays and neutrons? IIRC, the combination of toxic materials and radiation produced Godzilla. I foresee an Entertainment Tonight headline: "Martian Madness Monster Movie!".
But a little more seriously, does JAXA, EU, etc. follow anti-biological contamination protocol? It wouldn't do to return a Martian sample that tests positive for the Earthican virus-du-jour.
Change that last question to "how well does JAXA and etc. follow the protocols?" I'm sure if we could ask them they'd swear up and down that they do. NASA brought back those samples from Bennu a few years ago, and we're still here to talk about it.
DeleteGood points.
DeleteI started to babble on about stolen lunar samples dooming us all, but Google rescued you from my verbiage. Apparently, the Bennu hunks are still secure. Kinda wild that amino acids and related things can remain intact for a zillion years in space.