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Oct 19, 2026

Japan launches historic Mars moon sample return mission

Japan successfully launched the Martian Moons Exploration spacecraft on a five-year mission to become the first nation to retrieve samples from Mars' moon Phobos, potentially helping unlock the origins of the solar system.

Oct 19, 2026·8 sources

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Top claims

▪China plans to launch its Tianwen-3 sample return mission to Mars around 2028 to return Martian soil samples to Earth as early as 2031
▪The Martian Moons eXploration mission is an international collaboration involving the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, NASA, the European Space Agency, and French and German space agencies
▪Determining the origin of Mars's moons will clarify how terrestrial planets formed and how habitable environments arose in the early Solar System, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Subtopics

Space exploration1

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