- Preface
- Open access
- Published:
Special issue “Martian Moons eXploration: the scientific investigations of Mars and its moons”
Earth, Planets and Space volume 76, Article number: 8 (2024)
Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) marks the third sample return mission led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), succeeding the Hayabusa and Hayabusa 2 missions. The MMX spacecraft aims to extensively observe two Martian moons (Phobos and Deimos) and Mars over 3 years, and collect samples from Phobos for return to Earth. The major scientific objectives of the MMX mission are to solve the origin of the two moons, to elucidate the early Solar System evolution, and to explore the evolutionary processes of both moons and Mars surface environment. This first special issue for the MMX mission is dedicated to the current status of the MMX mission, such as the science instruments aboard MMX, the mission plan, and the strategies to achieve the scientific objectives.
Kuramoto et al. (2022) overviewed the current design of the MMX mission, focusing on the scientific objectives and the mission requirements. To achieve those objectives, the MMX spacecraft is equipped with 7 scientific instruments, 1 rover, and 2 sampling systems. Kameda et al. (2021) described a telescopic camera, TENGOO (TElescopic Nadir imager for GeOmOrphology), and wide-angle multiband camera, OROCHI (Optical RadiOmeter composed of CHromatic Imagers). Senshu et al. (2021) presented a laser altimeter, LIDAR (LIgiht Detection And Ranging). Barucci et al. (2021) presented a near-infrared spectrometer, MIRS (MMX InfraRed Spectrometer), which is built at LESIA-Paris Observatory. Chabot et al. (2021) presented a NASA-funded gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer, MEGANE (Mars-moon Exploration with GAmma rays and NEutrons). Yokota et al. (2021) described an ion mass spectrometer, MSA (Mass Spectrum Analyzer). Kobayashi et al. (2018) described a dust counter, CMDM (Circum-Martian Dust Monitor), and its implication was presented in Krüger et al. (2021). The MMX spacecraft is also equipped with a rover developed by CNES and DLR (Michel et al. 2022) with a Raman spectrometer, RAX (Cho et al. 2021). Two independent sampling systems using coring and pneumatic samplers will be employed on the MMX spacecraft (Usui et al. 2020).
Nakamura et al. (2021) summarized the current scientific operation plan for 3 years, including the close-up observations of Phobos, rover delivery to Phobos, two touch down events for sample collection, observation of Mars (Ogohara et al. 2022), and the flyby observation of Deimos. Matsumoto et al. (2021) reviewed recent geodetic observations of Phobos, and showed the strategies for the geodetic observations during the MMX mission. High-resolution shape models of Phobos and Deimos were presented in Ernst et al. (2023). Fujiya et al. (2021) presented the design of analytical protocols for the returned Phobos samples to reveal the origin of the Martian moons as well as the evolution of the Mars-moons system.
In addition, Miyamoto et al. (2021) reviewed the surface environment of Phobos and showed the development of simulated soil materials of Phobos. Takemura et al. (2021) summarized typical geological features of Phobos and discussed the topographic irregularities and the engineering safety for the landing sites. Sefton-Nash et al. (2021) discussed the possibility of Phobos for an exploration platform on Phobos in the future.
While JAXA leads the MMX mission, some instruments, observational planning and execution are shaped by extensive international collaborations, fostering a collective effort in advancing our understanding of Mars and its moons system. The new knowledge brought forth by the MMX mission is poised to carve out new horizons in future research and exploration activities. The pursuit of the unknown will continue to drive the journey of science and exploration.
Data availability
Not applicable.
References
Barruci MA, Reess JM, Bernardi P et al (2021) MIRS an imaging spectrometer for the MMX mission. Earth Planets Space 73:211. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01423-2
Chabot NL, Peplowski PN, Ernst CM et al (2021) MEGANE investigations of phobos and the small body mapping tool. Earth Planets Space 73:217. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01509-x
Cho Y, Bottger U, Rull F et al (2021) In-situ science on Phobos with the Raman spectrometer for MMX (RAX): preliminary design and feasibility of Raman measurements. Earth Planets Space 73:232. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01496-z
Ernst CM, Daly RT, Gaskell RW et al (2023) High-resolution shape models of Phobos and Deimos from stereophotoclinometry. Earth Planets Space 75:103. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-023-01814-7
Fujiya W, Furukawa Y, Sugahara H et al (2021) Analytical protocols for Phobos regolith samples returned by the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. Earth Planet Space 73:120. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01438-9
Kameda S, Ozaki M, Enya K et al (2021) Design of Telescopic Nadir Imager for Geomorphology (TENGOO) and Observation of surface Reflectance by Optical Chromatic Imager (OROCHI) for the MMX mission. Earth Planets Space 73:218. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01462-9
Kobayashi M, Krüger H, Senshu H et al (2018) In situ observations of dust particles in Martian dust belts using a large-sensitive-area dust sensor. Planet Space Sci 156:41–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2017.12.011
Krüger H, Kobayashi M, Strub P et al (2021) Modelling cometary meteoroid stream traverses of the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft en route to Phobos. Earth Planets Space 73:93. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01412-5
Kuramoto K, Kawakatsu Y, Fujimoto M et al (2022) Martian Moons Exploration MMX: sample return mission to Phobos elucidating formation processes of habitable planets. Earth Planets Space 74:12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01545-7
Matsumoto K, Hirata N, Ikeda H et al (2021) MMX geodesy investigations: science requirements and observation strategy. Earth Planets Space 73:226. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01500-6
Michel P, Ulamec S, Boettger U et al (2022) The MMX rover: performing in-situ surface investigations on Phobos. Earth Planets Space 74:2. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01464-7
Miyamoto H, Niihara T, Wada K et al (2021) Surface environment of phobos and phobos simulant UPTS. Earth Planets Space 73:214. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01406-3
Nakamura T, Ikeda H, Kouyama T et al (2021) Science operation plan of Phobos and Deimos from the MMX spacecraft. Earth Planets Space 73:227. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01546-6
Ogohara K, Nakagawa H, Aoki S et al (2022) The Mars system revealed by the Martian Moons eXploration mission. Earth Planets Space 74:1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01417-0
Sefton-Nash E, Thébault G, Witasse O et al (2021) Visibility analysis of Phobos to support a science and exploration platform. Earth Planets Space 73:215. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01542-w
Senshu H, Mizuno T, Umetani K et al (2021) Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) laser altimeter for the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft. Earth Planets Space 73:219. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01537-7
Takemura T, Miyamoto H, Hemmi R et al (2021) Small-scale topographic irregularities on Phobos: image and numerical analyses for MMX mission. Earth Planets Space 73:213. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01463-8
Usui T, Bajo KI, Fujiya W et al (2020) The importance of Phobos sample return for understanding the Mars-moon system. Space Sci Rev 216:49. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00668-9
Yokota S, Terada N, Matsuoka A et al (2021) In situ observations of ions and magnetic field around Phobos: the Mass Spectrum Analyzer (MSA) for the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. Earth Planets Space 73:216. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01452-x
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors of this article served as guest editors for this special issue. HG drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Genda, H., Usui, T., Chabot, N.L. et al. Special issue “Martian Moons eXploration: the scientific investigations of Mars and its moons”. Earth Planets Space 76, 8 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-023-01950-0
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-023-01950-0