Launch Mission 2024, JAXA Wants To Bring Mars Soil Samples First From NASA

Arid conditions on the Planet Mars. (photo: NASA)

JAKARTA - The Japanese space agency plans to bring soil samples back from the Martian region ahead of the current US and Chinese missions on Mars. The Japan mission hopes to find clues to the planet's origins and traces of life that may exist there.

The Japan Space Exploration Agency, or JAXA, plans to launch a rover in 2024 to land on the Martian moon Phobos to collect 10 grams (0.35 ounces) of soil and bring it back to Earth by 2029.

"The fast return journey will put Japan ahead of the United States and China in bringing back samples from the Martian region even though it started more slowly," project manager Yasuhiro Kawakatsu said in an online press conference Thursday.

NASA's Perseverance rover is operating in the craters of Mars to collect 31 samples that will be returned to Earth with help from the European Space Agency in early 2031. China landed a spacecraft on Mars in May and plans to bring the samples back to around 2030.

"JAXA scientists believe about 0.1 percent of the soil surface on Phobos comes from Mars and 10 grams can contain about 30 grains, depending on the consistency of the soil," Kawakatsu said.

Tomohiro Usui, professor at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, said the soil on Phobos was likely a mixture of material from the moon itself and material from Mars scattered by sandstorms. According to him, collecting samples from multiple locations on Phobos could provide a greater chance of obtaining possible traces of life from Mars than obtaining soil from a single location on Mars.

"Any form of life that might have originated on Mars would have died out due to the harsh solar and cosmic radiation on Phobos," the JAXA scientists said. The NASA and European Space Agency missions are focusing on potential life forms and the evolution of the Jezero crater area, which is believed to be an ancient lake.

According to Usui by studying Phobos soil samples including material from Mars, scientists hope to learn about the evolution of the Martian biosphere.

He said Japanese research on Phobos and NASA samples from specific locations in Martian craters could complement each other and could lead to answers to questions such as how Martian life, if any, emerged and evolved in time and place.

Last December, JAXA's probe Hayabusa2 brought back more than 5 grams of soil from the asteroid Ryugu, more than 190 million miles from Earth, in the world's first successful asteroid sample return.