Japan launches Martian moon mission | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News - NHKニュース

A Japanese mission to bring back samples from one of the moons of Mars has been launched.

An H3 rocket carrying the spacecraft called Martian Moons eXploration, or MMX, blasted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture at 4:41 a.m. on Tuesday.

The rocket continued ascending as it jettisoned its first stage and boosters. The MMX was put on a trajectory toward Mars about one hour and 11 minutes after blast off.

MMX was built with the aim of it becoming the first ever spacecraft to land on the Martian moon Phobos, collect samples from its surface, and bring them back to Earth. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, developed it at a cost of 55.3 billion yen, or roughly 350 million dollars.

It is expected to reach the vicinity of Mars around August next year, spend three years observing, then return to Earth with samples during the fiscal year that ends in March of 2032.

JAXA says it hopes the mission will help the agency develop technology necessary to explore the Martian sphere. It also hopes the mission will shed more light on the origin of Mars' moons through scientific observation and analysis of samples.