Solving the riddle of how Mars’ moons came to be will help us better understand how planets formed around our Sun and, in turn, around other stars,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s science mission directorate. “International partnerships like this provide high-quality science with high-impact return.”“We’ll see the composition of the region from which MMX collects its sample,” said Thomas Statler, program scientist for MMX at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This will help us better understand what we discover in the laboratory when the mission returns the sample to Earth for analysis.”
We might be able to study the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos a lot more closely in the coming decade. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has teamed up with Germany's and France's space agencies to send a spacecraft with a rover to the red planet's faithful companions. In fact, JAXA has just finalized its agreement to work with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) on the study-phase activities for its Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission.
The spacecraft will carry a German-French rover that will land on either Phobos or Deimos and explore the surface in detail for several months
"The world-first exploration of the Martian moons with a rover is a major technical challenge that we are tackling within the framework of our strong and proven partnership with Japan and France," says Pascale Ehrenfreund, Chair of the DLR Executive Board. "Together, we want to push the boundaries of what is technically feasible in robotic exploration and expand our knowledge about the origin of the solar system."
I still don't understand why such "low-hanging fruits" like Phobos and Deimos have been totally forgotten all these years by NASA/ESA?You could do Mars-science and asteroid science at the same location and take advantage of the existing orbiter network for data transmissions.There's also less risk with this mission compared to typical asteroid mission because of the pretty well known characteristics and existing surface mapping of those bodies from previous Mars missions.
So, only Japan, only now, is the only entity even planning such a mission.Why so...? (of course USSR/Russia had its try but...)
MMX 2021 animation:
Trying to calculate how close one has to get to either of the moons for a decent view; does anyone have any spreadsheets on calculating Martian orbits?
https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2020/09/20200910-2_e.html8K Camera on the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) Spacecraft to Take Ultra High Definition Images of MarsSeptember 10, 2020 (JST)National Research & Development AgencyJapan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK)The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) have decided to jointly develop a “Super Hi-Vision Camera” that is capable of filming 4K and 8K images in space for JAXA’s Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. This would be the first time in history that 8K ultra high definition images of Mars and its moons are taken in proximity. By combining the actual flight data of the MMX spacecraft and the images taken by the Super Hi-Vision Camera, the exploration of the MMX spacecraft around Mars and its moons (the Martian system), 300 million kilometers from the Earth, will be recreated.(Snip)