Extra tidbits on Japan's MMX mission

Here are some more interesting bits I didn’t get to cover in my article on Japan's MMX mission, which will collect samples from Mars’ moon Phobos.

• Slowing down from orbital speeds to a touch down under Phobos’ weak gravity is going to be incredibly challenging. Among other things, mission engineers are thus designing the spacecraft’s structure to absorb far more energy on touchdown than Moon or Mars landers do, to avoid bouncing away or toppling.

• To test both MMX’s sampling mechanisms, engineers have built simulants from rocks collected from all over Japan. These simulants mimic different soil and rock structures expected on Phobos.

• The mission's official blog post on how MMX could possibly collect organic samples from Phobos

• The mission's official blog post on the intriguing quasi-satellite orbit

The “Quasi-Satellite Orbit” that the MMX spacecraft will have around Mars allows it to be always close to Phobos. From Phobos, it looks like the spacecraft is orbiting it. Credit: JAXA

Last but not the least, check out JAXA’s dedicated and amazing blog for the mission.