Japan launches probe in historic bid to collect sample from Mars moon

Tokyo, Japan—A Japanese spacecraft was on its way to one of Mars’s moons on Tuesday on a world-first mission to retrieve samples, potentially helping unlock the origins of the Solar System and life on Earth. The flagship H3 rocket carrying the unmanned Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) probe blasted off into a pitch black sky from the Tanegashima Space Center at 4:41 am (1941 GMT Monday), according to a live stream broadcast by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Over an hour later, JAXA annou

5 sources20 Oct 2026Updated 2d ago

Japan launches probe in historic bid to collect sample from Mars moon

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Japan launches H3 rocket carrying Mars moon sample-return probe.

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9h ago
Global Times: Japan launched an H3 rocket carrying a spacecraft to explore a moon of Mars early Tuesday, beginning a five-year sample-return mission, acco
9h ago
CNA Lifestyle: The spacecraft is due to arrive near Mars around August next year, where it will orbit one of its moons, Phobos.
9h ago
Inquirer.net (PH): Tokyo, Japan—A Japanese spacecraft was on its way to one of Mars’s moons on Tuesday on a world-first mission to retrieve samples, potentiall
8h ago
Japan Times latest articles (JP): The five-year mission — the first to attempt to land on a Martian moon — could shed light on the origins of the solar system and life on Ear
1h ago
RT - Daily news (RU): The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has successfully launched its Martian Moons eXploration mission, which aims to return samples from Ph

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