Japan’s MMX Mission Wants to Bring Martian Moon Samples Back to Earth

It’s difficult to imagine a more daunting journey than one to an alien moon named after the Greek god of fear—especially when three other attempts to make that journey have failed.

And yet, as Japan’s space agency, JAXA, and its collaborators gear up to send a spacecraft to Mars’ formidably named moon, “all the members are filled with a quiet sense of excitement,” says Kiyoshi Kuramoto, who leads the mission’s slew of international scientists.

This mission, called the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX), is set to launch from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center in the wee hours of Tuesday in Japan (Monday afternoon in the US). After almost a year of travel, the spacecraft will reach Mars and its two moons: Phobos, meaning fear in Greek, and Deimos, meaning dread. MMX will observe the pair from afar and collect samples from Phobos in a bid to answer a looming scientific...

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