Articles on SPEPS
19.Progress on science and instruments for Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission
Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is the third sample return mission led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) with international collaborations following Hayabusa and Hayabusa 2 missions. The MMX spacecraft is planned to be launched in September 2024, extensively observe Mars and its two moons Phobos and Deimos over 3 years, and collect samples (> 10g) from Phobos, and return to the Earth in 2029. The major scientific objectives of MMX mission are to solve the mystery of 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. These scientific objectives will be achieved by extensive observations by various instruments, rover exploration on Phobos, and sample analysis. It is a good timing to call for papers about the progress on science for Mars-Martian moons system, and the final status of the instruments and rover for Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission.
Edited by: Kiyoshi Kuramoto, Hidenori Genda, Tomohiro USUI, Nancy L CHABOT
Research articles: Space and planetary sciences
Published: July 14, 2025
The WheelCams on the IDEFIX rover
Murdoch N, Lalucaa V, Sunday C, Tardivel S,Bertrand J, Théret N, Vivet D, Amsili A, Robin C, Delton P, Duchene A, Douaglin Q, Maillard A, Virmontois C, Vernazza P, Jorda L, Groussin O, Miyamoto H, Vincent J, Flahaut J, Biele J, Barnouin O, Hartzell C, Buse F, Barthelmes S, Ulamec S, Michel P, Baroukh J
Research articles: Space and planetary sciences
Published: July 14, 2025
The miniRAD instrument for the MMX IDEFIX rover
J. Knollenberg, M. Grott, M. Hamm, A. Ihring, R. Ziese, J. Biele
Research articles: Space and planetary sciences
Published: July 11, 2025
Pre-flight performance of the ion energy mass spectrum analyzer for the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission
Shoichiro Yokota, Ayako Matsuoka, Naofumi Murata, Yoshifumi Saito, Kazushi Asamura, Satoshi Kasahara, Dominique Delcourt, Lina Z. Hadid, Naoki Terada, Kunihiro Keika, Yuki Harada, Hiromu Nakagawa, Kei Masunaga, Shotaro Sakai, Yoshifumi Futaana, Shun Imajo, Kanako Seki, Masaki N. Nishino, Yuki Kitamura
Research articles: Space and planetary sciences
Published: July 1, 2025
Surface science on Phobos with the navigation cameras of the MMX IDEFIX rover
Pierre Vernazza, Laurent Jorda, Simon Tardivel, Julien Baroukh, Olivier Groussin, Celia Pimorin, Axel Poulain, Pierre-Yves Chabaud, Emilie Robert, Jean Bertrand, Valerian Lalucaa, Emile Remetean, Nicolas Théret, Cedric Virmontois, Naomi Murdoch, Stéphane Le Mouélic, Pierre Beck, Ottaviano Rüsch, Jessica Flahaut, Sebastien Charnoz, Jeremie Lasue, Maria-Antonietta Barucci, Alain Doressoundiram, Patrick Michel, Stephan Ulamec
Research articles: Space and planetary sciences
Published: June 3, 2025
Microgravity penetrometry flight campaign in support of MMX sampler science exploitation
Alexander Smyth-Moore, Johan Borg, Álvaro Soria-Salinas, Naomi Murdoch, Hiroki Kato, Hideaki Miyamoto, Tomohiro Usui, Erika Kaufmann, Mikael Granvik and Axel Hagermann
Research articles: Space and planetary sciences
Published: May 15, 2025
Ground calibration tests of the laser altimeter (LIDAR) for MMX mission
Senshu H, Mizuno T, Nakura T, Suetsugu R, Kasai K, Ikeda H, Noda H, Matsumoto K, Araki H, Umetani K, Konishi A, Sasaki S, Ishihara Y, Ikuse Y, Mayuzumi K, Kase T