In retrospect—as one of the founding members of MMX — Phobos emerged as a nice target for ISAS Solar System exploration during the casual discussion meetings that were being held around 2015 every Friday morning. Links with issues such as “What would be the shape of ISAS in post-Hayabusa2 days?” (even though Hayabusa2 was still on the way to asteroid Ryugu back then), “What about the JAXA way for Mars landing exploration?” (the atmosphere at the time leaned towards giving this up), led to MMX beginning to gain momentum. Buoyed by the great success of Hayabusa2, the expectations for the sample from Phobos are running high. The stage is set for MMX, a mission destined to capture the attention of the world from the start to finish.

JAXA Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Director General

Fujimoto Masaki

About 10 years ago, we embarked on a challenge with our colleagues—the Martian Moons eXploration mission, MMX. After overcoming numerous hurdles, the moment for departure will finally be here in FY 2026. Our target is Phobos, one of Mars’s moons. This is an ambitious mission to return the first samples in the world from Phobos back to Earth. The journey will be packed with exhilarating moments and the next five years will undoubtedly fly by in an instant. Go, MMX, Go! Let’s bring inspiration and pride back to the world!

MMX Project Manager

Kawakatsu Yasuhiro

Japan’s interplanetary round-trip flight technology, which began with asteroid explorations, will next reach the gravitational sphere of Mars. Exploration is a venture guaranteed to be fraught with challenges. It is precisely for this reason that discoveries and progress are made. I am already eagerly anticipating what we will learn from the challenge of MMX, and what journey to Phobos will bring to humanity. Keep your head cool, and your heart passionate, and do your best, MMX!

Hayabusa2 Project Manager (former)

Tsuda Yuichi

Mars was born as our Earth's neighbour. Its moons, Phobos and Deimos, hold the record of its birth. Through this bold sample return mission, MMX will seek to decipher this Rosetta Stone that is etched with the planet's formation history. How Mars acquired its moons and developed a primordial environment with an atmosphere and water—an astonishing true story perhaps spanning the entire Solar System--will be uncovered. This holds the key to understanding the birth of our own Earth, a planet that nurtures life. SOAR, MMX.

Hokkaido University, Graduate School of Science,
MMX Principal Investigator

Kuramoto Kiyoshi

Japan has long pioneered sample-return missions, starting with Hayabusa and Hayabusa2, both of which successfully brought back asteroid material. When invited to join the MMX mission at its beginning, I saw it as a natural next step — bringing samples from Phobos, a Martian moon that may reveal new chapters of Solar System history. Yet MMX goes far beyond: instead of brief “touch-and-go” sampling, the spacecraft plans to land for an extended period on Phobos’s surface — a bold leap. I feel extremely honored and excited to be part of this amazing adventure and deeply admire this fearless spirit of innovation and international cooperation that makes JAXA’s missions true examples of science as an inspiring, unifying adventure. The world needs such bold endeavors — shining examples of how humanity can rise to its greatest challenges and turn them into triumphs of ingenuity and cooperation. Go MMX!!!

Planetary Scientist, CNRS, Côte d’Azur Observatory

Patrick Michel

Dear IDEFIX, soon you will embark on a great journey through the Solar System and be the first to explore Mars' moon Phobos. The MMX-probe will accompany you until then and take good care of you. Of course, we will also keep an eye on both of you from Earth. I wish you every success, an exciting journey, and great discoveries.

Divisional Board Member for Space at DLR

Anke Pagels-Kerp

From Earth to Phobos and back, MIRS spectrometer will accompany MMX on its historic journey. The French MIRS team is proud to be part of this ambitious and exciting Japanese mission. MMX makes our dreams come true and will be the Rosetta stone to understand the history of the Martian system. Bon vent MMX, et à bientôt.

MMX InfraRed Spectrometer (MIRS) PI,
Laboratoire d'Etudes Spatiales et d'Instrumentation en Astrophysique

Maria Antonietta Barucci

So much looking forward to the first ever driving of a rover on a body with very low gravity. IDEFIX will be smoothly delivered by the MMX spacecraft to the surface of Phobos. There we hope to get unique insights into the physical and mineralogical properties of the surface material. The cameras will provide us a clear view of the surrounding as well as tracks of the rover, while RAX a Raman spectrometer, will measure the composition and miniRAD the temperatures of the surface.We are very proud that the French-German rover is part of this fantastic Japanese mission, a truly international endeavor, giving one extra puzzle stone for our understanding of the Martian moons! Go, MMX, Go!

IDEFIX Scientific Lead

Stephan Ulamec

In FY 2026, our resolute IDEFIX rover will finally launch to Phobos. We hope that after two years of cruising through the quiet darkness of space and ten years of our life devoted to the MMX mission, IDEFIX will successfully deploy his solar arrays and begin his adventure on Phobos surface. All of us—the DLR team, our team-mates from CNES who have become friends and our dear JAXA-colleagues—will follow the first moments of IDEFIX with tears of joy in our eyes. Good luck, IDEFIX, see you on Phobos and a warm domo arigato to JAXA-san for the kind invitation!

CNES/DLR IDEFIX Joint Team, Project Lead DLR

Markus Grebenstein