MMX

Martian Moons eXploration

Future Mission

A Japanese (JAXA) mission to travel to Mars and survey the Red Planet's two moons, Phobos and Deimos. The spacecraft will explore both moons and collect a sample of Phobos and bring it to Earth.

Type

Orbiter, Sample Return

Launch

Oct. 20, 2026

Target

Deimos and Phobos

Objective

Clarify the origin of the two Martian moons and the evolution process of Mars, Phobos and Deimos

NASA’s Mars-moon Exploration with Gamma Ray and Neutrons (MEGANE) instrument will play a major role in the MMX mission, which aims to characterize and determine the origin of Mars’ moons, Phobos and Deimos, and deliver a sample from Phobos to Earth.

Scientists suspect the asteroid-sized bodies either are remnants of an ancient collision between Mars and a large impactor or are themselves asteroids captured by Mars’ gravity. By measuring the energies of neutrons and gamma rays emitted from the surface of Phobos, MEGANE will let MMX “see” the elemental composition of the moon’s surface and help peg the likely origin of the moon. MEGANE was developed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, in collaboration with colleagues from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California.

Illustration of a spacecraft over Mars. The moon Phobos is shown in the background at an exaggerated scale.

An artist’s concept of JAXA’s MMX spacecraft at Mars.

JAXA

Goals	Japan's MMX (Martian Moons eXploration) will study Mars' small moons Phobos and Deimos, collect a sample of one of them and return it to Earth.
Proposed Launch	Oct. 20, 2026
Science Targets	Phobos, Deimos
Types	Orbiter, Lander, Sample Return
Agency	Japan
Alternate Names	https://www.mmx.jaxa.jp/en/