Japan's space agency JAXA announced on Thursday that it will launch the unmanned Martian Moons eXploration probe on October 20 to collect and return samples from one of Mars' moons.
The H3 rocket carrying the MMX probe is scheduled to launch from the Tanegashima Space Center at 04:41 local time on October 20, which corresponds to 19:41 GMT on October 19.
The spacecraft will stay in Mars' orbit for around three years and attempt to land on Phobos, one of the planet's moons. It will also observe Deimos, another Mars moon, but without landing.
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By Luisa Marconi · 5w