(TNND) — Japan launched a spacecraft Tuesday on a five-year mission to explore Mars’ moons and bring samples back to Earth.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is leading the mission, which will send a lander and a French-German rover to Phobos, the larger of Mars’ two moons. The spacecraft is expected to reach Mars next summer. The sample capsule is scheduled to return to Earth in 2031.
The rover, named Idefix, will scout Phobos for about 100 days to help flight controllers choose a landing site. The lander is expected to touch down in 2028 or 2029, collect at least 10 grams of material and launch back into space.
No spacecraft has landed on either Phobos or its companion moon, Deimos, and no samples have been returned from Mars or its moons. Japan has completed two asteroid sample-return missions.
Scientists hope the samples will help explain how the moons formed. They may have formed from debris after an ancient collision with Mars or been asteroids captured by the planet’s gravity. Researchers also expect the material to contain traces of Mars.
“It is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. We are part of the first sample return mission from the Martian system,” Markus Grebenstein, the German Space Agency’s rover chief, said.
The $578 million mission is a partnership among Japan, NASA and European space agencies.
_____
Editor’s note:The Associated Press contributed to this article.