Japan startet Mission, um ein Stück des Marsmondes Phobos nach Hause zu bringen – Der Höhepunkt für MMX wird 2029 kommen, wenn die Raumsonde bis zu zwei Landungen auf Phobos versuchen wird.

>Japan launched a $578 million mission Monday on a five-year expedition to land on the largest moon of Mars and retrieve samples for return to Earth, a daring international project that could yield new insights into the formation of the Solar System.

>The robotic Martian Moons eXploration mission, known as MMX, lifted off at 3:41 pm EDT Monday (4:41 am Japan Standard Time Tuesday) from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan.

>The MMX spacecraft rode into orbit atop a 207-foot-tall (63-meter) H3 rocket, Japan’s flagship launch vehicle. The rocket assigned to MMX debuted a new souped-up configuration with four strap-on solid rocket boosters, full-throttle main engines, and an extended payload shroud to accommodate the demands of Japan’s heaviest and most ambitious interplanetary mission to date.

>The rocket’s upper stage accelerated the MMX spacecraft to a top speed of more than 24,000 mph, fast enough to break free of Earth’s gravitational pull for the 10-month voyage to Mars. The nearly 9,900-pound (4.5-metric ton) spacecraft—two-thirds of its mass comprised of propellant—separated from the H3 rocket about 71 minutes after liftoff.