KAWAKATSU , Yasuhiro

International audience

The Martian Moons eXploration mission is currently under development at JAXA and will be the first spacecraft mission to retrieve pristine samples from the surface of Phobos. In preparation for the sampling operations, MMX will collect observations of Phobos from stable retrograde relative trajectories also known as quasi-satellite orbits or...

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...

The science operations of the spacecraft and remote sensing instruments for the Martian Moon eXploration (MMX) mission are discussed by the mission operation working team. In this paper, we describe the Phobos observations during the first 1.5 years of the spacecraft's stay around Mars, and the Deimos observations before leaving the Martian...