Japan’s JAXA successfully launched the MMX spacecraft on 19 October 2026, sending the German-French Idefix rover towards Mars’ moon Phobos aboard an H3 launch vehicle. The spacecraft lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 21:41 CEST, beginning a mission designed to investigate Phobos and Deimos and return samples from Phobos to Earth.
Developed and built jointly by Germany’s DLR and France’s CNES, the 25-kilogram rover is expected to reach the Mars system in 2027 and land on Phobos around the turn of 2028/2029. It will be released from approximately 40 to 100 metres above the moon’s surface and is designed to right itself after landing in the extremely low-gravity environment.
Idefix is planned to operate for about 100 days, analysing Phobos’ surface properties and helping identify suitable conditions for the MMX spacecraft’s later landing and sampling activities. Rover operations will involve DLR control facilities in Germany and CNES facilities in France.
The mission will examine whether Mars’ moons are captured asteroids or formed from material ejected by a major impact on Mars. MMX is intended to collect Phobos samples and return them to Earth in 2031, making Idefix the first rover planned to land on a Martian moon.