Martian moons exploration MMX: sample return mission to Phobos elucidating formation processes of habitable planets

Kiyoshi Kuramoto; Yasuhiro Kawakatsu; Masaki Fujimoto; Akito Araya; Maria Antonietta Barucci; Hidenori Genda; Naru Hirata; Hitoshi Ikeda; Takeshi Imamura; Jörn Helbert; Shingo Kameda; Masanori Kobayashi; Hiroki Kusano; David J. Lawrence; Koji Matsumoto; Patrick Michel; Hideaki Miyamoto; Tomokatsu Morota; Hiromu Nakagawa; Tomoki Nakamura; Kazunori Ogawa; Hisashi Otake; Masanobu Ozaki; Sara Russell; Sho Sasaki; Hirotaka Sawada; Hiroki Senshu; Shogo Tachibana; Naoki Terada; Stephan Ulamec; Tomohiro Usui; Koji Wada; Sei ichiro Watanabe; Shoichiro Yokota

doi:10.1186/s40623-021-01545-7

Martian moons exploration MMX: sample return mission to Phobos elucidating formation processes of habitable planets

Kiyoshi Kuramoto, Yasuhiro Kawakatsu, Masaki Fujimoto, Akito Araya, Maria Antonietta Barucci, Hidenori Genda, Naru Hirata, Hitoshi Ikeda, Takeshi Imamura, Jörn Helbert, Shingo Kameda, Masanori Kobayashi, Hiroki Kusano, David J. Lawrence, Koji Matsumoto, Patrick Michel, Hideaki Miyamoto, Tomokatsu Morota, Hiromu Nakagawa, Tomoki NakamuraKazunori Ogawa, Hisashi Otake, Masanobu Ozaki, Sara Russell, Sho Sasaki, Hirotaka Sawada, Hiroki Senshu, Shogo Tachibana, Naoki Terada, Stephan Ulamec, Tomohiro Usui, Koji Wada, Sei ichiro Watanabe, Shoichiro Yokota

Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Martian moons exploration, MMX, is the new sample return mission planned by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) targeting the two Martian moons with the scheduled launch in 2024 and return to the Earth in 2029. The major scientific objectives of this mission are to determine the origin of Phobos and Deimos, to elucidate the early Solar System evolution in terms of volatile delivery across the snow line to the terrestrial planets having habitable surface environments, and to explore the evolutionary processes of both moons and Mars surface environment. To achieve these objectives, during a stay in circum-Martian space over about 3 years MMX will collect samples from Phobos along with close-up observations of this inner moon and carry out multiple flybys of Deimos to make comparative observations of this outer moon. Simultaneously, successive observations of the Martian atmosphere will also be made by utilizing the advantage of quasi-equatorial spacecraft orbits along the moons’ orbits. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Original language	English
Article number	12
Journal	earth, planets and space
Volume	74
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01545-7
Publication status	Published - 2022 Dec

Keywords

Deimos
Early Solar System
Habitable planet
Mars
Phobos
Sample return mission

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geology
Space and Planetary Science

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10.1186/s40623-021-01545-7

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Kuramoto, K., Kawakatsu, Y., Fujimoto, M., Araya, A., Barucci, M. A., Genda, H., Hirata, N., Ikeda, H., Imamura, T., Helbert, J., Kameda, S., Kobayashi, M., Kusano, H., Lawrence, D. J., Matsumoto, K., Michel, P., Miyamoto, H., Morota, T., Nakagawa, H., ... Yokota, S. (2022). Martian moons exploration MMX: sample return mission to Phobos elucidating formation processes of habitable planets. earth, planets and space, 74(1), [12]. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01545-7

Kuramoto, K, Kawakatsu, Y, Fujimoto, M, Araya, A, Barucci, MA, Genda, H, Hirata, N, Ikeda, H, Imamura, T, Helbert, J, Kameda, S, Kobayashi, M, Kusano, H, Lawrence, DJ, Matsumoto, K, Michel, P, Miyamoto, H, Morota, T, Nakagawa, H , Nakamura, T, Ogawa, K, Otake, H, Ozaki, M, Russell, S, Sasaki, S, Sawada, H, Senshu, H, Tachibana, S, Terada, N, Ulamec, S, Usui, T, Wada, K, Watanabe, SI & Yokota, S 2022, 'Martian moons exploration MMX: sample return mission to Phobos elucidating formation processes of habitable planets', earth, planets and space, vol. 74, no. 1, 12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01545-7

@article{589037718db849539b2bdf436ac5db4f,

title = "Martian moons exploration MMX: sample return mission to Phobos elucidating formation processes of habitable planets",

abstract = "Martian moons exploration, MMX, is the new sample return mission planned by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) targeting the two Martian moons with the scheduled launch in 2024 and return to the Earth in 2029. The major scientific objectives of this mission are to determine the origin of Phobos and Deimos, to elucidate the early Solar System evolution in terms of volatile delivery across the snow line to the terrestrial planets having habitable surface environments, and to explore the evolutionary processes of both moons and Mars surface environment. To achieve these objectives, during a stay in circum-Martian space over about 3 years MMX will collect samples from Phobos along with close-up observations of this inner moon and carry out multiple flybys of Deimos to make comparative observations of this outer moon. Simultaneously, successive observations of the Martian atmosphere will also be made by utilizing the advantage of quasi-equatorial spacecraft orbits along the moons{\textquoteright} orbits. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]",

keywords = "Deimos, Early Solar System, Habitable planet, Mars, Phobos, Sample return mission",

author = "Kiyoshi Kuramoto and Yasuhiro Kawakatsu and Masaki Fujimoto and Akito Araya and Barucci, {Maria Antonietta} and Hidenori Genda and Naru Hirata and Hitoshi Ikeda and Takeshi Imamura and J{\"o}rn Helbert and Shingo Kameda and Masanori Kobayashi and Hiroki Kusano and Lawrence, {David J.} and Koji Matsumoto and Patrick Michel and Hideaki Miyamoto and Tomokatsu Morota and Hiromu Nakagawa and Tomoki Nakamura and Kazunori Ogawa and Hisashi Otake and Masanobu Ozaki and Sara Russell and Sho Sasaki and Hirotaka Sawada and Hiroki Senshu and Shogo Tachibana and Naoki Terada and Stephan Ulamec and Tomohiro Usui and Koji Wada and Watanabe, {Sei ichiro} and Shoichiro Yokota",

note = "Funding Information: We thank the MMX study team, the MMX project team, the sub-science teams (Origin of Phobos and Deimos, Early Solar System Evolution, Surface Science and Geology, Mars Science, and Geodesy), the instrument teams (CMDM, C-Sampler, LIDAR, MEGANE, MIRS, MSA, ROVER, and TENGOO-OROCHI), and the working teams (Data Processing, Landing Operation, Landing Site Selection, Mission Operation, Mission Operation Preparation, Rover Operation, and Sample Analysis) for insightful discussions for this project. We greatly appreciate N. Namiki and an anonymous reviewer for their careful reading and constructive comments. Funding Information: Through the Phase-A and Phase-B activities of MMX, our work was supported by ISAS/JAXA, NASA, CNES, DLR, and ESA. Parts of studies are also supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 18K03719 and 21K03638 to KK and MEXT KAKENHI Grant Number 17H06457 and 17H06459 to HG and TU, respectively. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021, The Author(s).",

year = "2022",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1186/s40623-021-01545-7",

language = "English",

volume = "74",

journal = "Earth, Planets and Space",

issn = "1343-8832",

publisher = "Terra Scientific Publishing Company",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Martian moons exploration MMX

T2 - sample return mission to Phobos elucidating formation processes of habitable planets

AU - Kuramoto, Kiyoshi

AU - Kawakatsu, Yasuhiro

AU - Fujimoto, Masaki

AU - Araya, Akito

AU - Barucci, Maria Antonietta

AU - Genda, Hidenori

AU - Hirata, Naru

AU - Ikeda, Hitoshi

AU - Imamura, Takeshi

AU - Helbert, Jörn

AU - Kameda, Shingo

AU - Kobayashi, Masanori

AU - Kusano, Hiroki

AU - Lawrence, David J.

AU - Matsumoto, Koji

AU - Michel, Patrick

AU - Miyamoto, Hideaki

AU - Morota, Tomokatsu

AU - Nakagawa, Hiromu

AU - Nakamura, Tomoki

AU - Ogawa, Kazunori

AU - Otake, Hisashi

AU - Ozaki, Masanobu

AU - Russell, Sara

AU - Sasaki, Sho

AU - Sawada, Hirotaka

AU - Senshu, Hiroki

AU - Tachibana, Shogo

AU - Terada, Naoki

AU - Ulamec, Stephan

AU - Usui, Tomohiro

AU - Wada, Koji

AU - Watanabe, Sei ichiro

AU - Yokota, Shoichiro

N1 - Funding Information: We thank the MMX study team, the MMX project team, the sub-science teams (Origin of Phobos and Deimos, Early Solar System Evolution, Surface Science and Geology, Mars Science, and Geodesy), the instrument teams (CMDM, C-Sampler, LIDAR, MEGANE, MIRS, MSA, ROVER, and TENGOO-OROCHI), and the working teams (Data Processing, Landing Operation, Landing Site Selection, Mission Operation, Mission Operation Preparation, Rover Operation, and Sample Analysis) for insightful discussions for this project. We greatly appreciate N. Namiki and an anonymous reviewer for their careful reading and constructive comments. Funding Information: Through the Phase-A and Phase-B activities of MMX, our work was supported by ISAS/JAXA, NASA, CNES, DLR, and ESA. Parts of studies are also supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 18K03719 and 21K03638 to KK and MEXT KAKENHI Grant Number 17H06457 and 17H06459 to HG and TU, respectively. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).

PY - 2022/12

Y1 - 2022/12

N2 - Martian moons exploration, MMX, is the new sample return mission planned by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) targeting the two Martian moons with the scheduled launch in 2024 and return to the Earth in 2029. The major scientific objectives of this mission are to determine the origin of Phobos and Deimos, to elucidate the early Solar System evolution in terms of volatile delivery across the snow line to the terrestrial planets having habitable surface environments, and to explore the evolutionary processes of both moons and Mars surface environment. To achieve these objectives, during a stay in circum-Martian space over about 3 years MMX will collect samples from Phobos along with close-up observations of this inner moon and carry out multiple flybys of Deimos to make comparative observations of this outer moon. Simultaneously, successive observations of the Martian atmosphere will also be made by utilizing the advantage of quasi-equatorial spacecraft orbits along the moons’ orbits. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

AB - Martian moons exploration, MMX, is the new sample return mission planned by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) targeting the two Martian moons with the scheduled launch in 2024 and return to the Earth in 2029. The major scientific objectives of this mission are to determine the origin of Phobos and Deimos, to elucidate the early Solar System evolution in terms of volatile delivery across the snow line to the terrestrial planets having habitable surface environments, and to explore the evolutionary processes of both moons and Mars surface environment. To achieve these objectives, during a stay in circum-Martian space over about 3 years MMX will collect samples from Phobos along with close-up observations of this inner moon and carry out multiple flybys of Deimos to make comparative observations of this outer moon. Simultaneously, successive observations of the Martian atmosphere will also be made by utilizing the advantage of quasi-equatorial spacecraft orbits along the moons’ orbits. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

KW - Deimos

KW - Early Solar System

KW - Habitable planet

KW - Mars

KW - Phobos

KW - Sample return mission

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U2 - 10.1186/s40623-021-01545-7

DO - 10.1186/s40623-021-01545-7

M3 - Letter

AN - SCOPUS:85120825141

SN - 1343-8832

VL - 74

JO - Earth, Planets and Space

JF - Earth, Planets and Space

IS - 1

M1 - 12

ER -

Martian moons exploration MMX: sample return mission to Phobos elucidating formation processes of habitable planets

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