✉news ScienceSpace Policy first seen 2 d ago, last 2 d ago, peak #2
Japan launches mission to sample Mars moon Phobos
Original: Japan launches mission to bring home a piece of the Martian moon Phobos
Japan has launched a space mission to collect material from Phobos, the larger of Mars' two moons, and return the sample to Earth. The mission, run by the Japanese space agency JAXA, would make Japan the first country to bring back material from a Martian moon. Readers are following the launch as a major milestone for Japan's space programme and planetary science more broadly, drawing comparisons with recent asteroid sample-return efforts.
Why now: The launch is newsworthy as a rare and ambitious deep-space sample-return mission to the Martian system.
Evidence
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