JAKARTA – The Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) has postponed the launch schedule for the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. The project to collect samples from Phobos, Mars’ moon, will be postponed to 2026.
JAXA said to Spacenews that the MMX launch had to be postponed because of the H3 rocket. This is not surprising because the rocket failed to reach orbit when tested in March last year.
According to JAXA, this rocket is still not ready for launch in September this year. Therefore, they are evaluating the launch and plan to test the H3 rocket again on February 14.
“Due to evaluating the demonstration results of the second H3 rocket test vehicle and considering the importance of ensuring sufficient time for initial verification of MMX in the field, the launch schedule for the Japanese rocket has been reviewed,” JAXA said on Wednesday, January 10.
In fact, JAXA has submitted a schedule change to the Japanese Space Development Strategy Headquarters since last year. This plan was also approved in the Revised Schedule for the Basic Plan for Space Policy in December.
Shortly after approval, the MMX team announced that the launch schedule had changed. Even though it was announced, they did not explain in detail the reasons why the government agency proposed delaying the launch.
MMX is an exploration mission to two Martian moons, namely Phobos and Deimos. The spacecraft that will be launched into space will enter Mars orbit, then move to Quasi Satellite Orbit (QSO) to collect Phobos data.
In addition to collecting data, MMX will land and collect samples from the surface of Phobos. These samples will be stored on board and the collected material will be brought to Earth for research by JAXA.
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Tag: space rocket jaxa
2024-01-11 16:05:00
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