Earth and Mars don’t have a huge amount in common, but one thing they both share are moons. Earth has one but did you know that Mars has two? They are called Deimos and Phobos. Scientists have puzzled for years about where Mars’s two moons came from. A Japanese-led mission is hoping to find the answer. Japan’s space agency, Jaxa, has called this the Mars Moons Exploration mission (MMX).
Following a successful blast-off on Monday 19 October, a spacecraft began the journey from Earth to Phobos – the larger of Mars’s two moons. Jaxa says the plan is for the MMX rover to land on Phobos in August 2027, and collect a sample of rock from the moon’s surface.
This has never been done before in the history of space exploration.
Scientists want to know if the Mars moons were created from the debris of smashed Martian rock, or if they are in fact made up of asteroids from the outer Solar System.
