TanegashimaJapan’s probe launches October 20 to fetch Phobos samples.
They should settle a century-old debate over whether Phobos is a captured asteroid or Mars debris.
The spacecraft reaches Mars in August 2027, then lands once or twice to take samples by gas puff and blasted cylinder.
The samples are due back on Earth in 2031.
How each outlet framed it
- New Scientist
- frames the MMX mission around the century-old Phobos/Deimos formation mystery and the sample return as its central payoff
Sources: New Scientist