Japan's Phobos probe MMX set for launch tonight with clear weather forecast
JAXA confirmed the H3 rocket will send MMX toward the Martian moon Phobos at 19:41 GMT on Monday, with an instantaneous launch window and a clear forecast. Samples are due back on Earth in 2031.
Photo: European Space Agency / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo (cropped and resized)
Japan's space agency JAXA has confirmed the launch time for its Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. The probe is scheduled to lift off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 04:41:03 a.m. Japan time on Oct. 20, or 19:41 GMT on Monday. The launch window is instantaneous, meaning the rocket must fly at that exact second. Japanese specialist media report clear weather is forecast for liftoff. Backup dates run through Nov. 9.
The flight is the 10th for the H3 rocket and its first to send a spacecraft beyond Earth orbit. It is also the debut of the most powerful H3-24L version, with four solid rocket boosters and a long payload fairing. The 4.48-tonne probe is due to separate from the upper stage over Africa about 71 minutes after launch. NASA's TDRS relay satellites will be used operationally for data for the first time. Two of the H3's previous nine flights failed.
MMX is scheduled to reach Mars in August 2027 and study the moon Phobos at close range. It plans two landings to collect at least 10 grams of surface material, after first deploying the French-German rover IDEFIX. The samples are due to land in Australia in a capsule in July 2031.