The space race heats up: Japan and China compete for Martian samples

The Japanese space agency is finalizing its preparations for the launch of a historic research mission towards the moons of Mars. Its main goal is to collect samples that may shed light on the origins of the solar system and the beginning of life on Earth. The unmanned mission is scheduled to take off in the coming months from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan.

According to a report by the French news agency, the spacecraft will stay in orbit around the Red Planet for about three years and will attempt to perform a complex landing on Phobos, one of the moons of Mars. During its landing, it is expected to collect at least 10 grams of material. At the same time, a small robotic rover named with the French name Idefix, after the famous dog from the Asterix comic book series, will perform observations and analyze the soil composition on the surface of the moon. On its way back, the spacecraft will also conduct flybys over Deimos, the second moon of Mars, before its sample capsule is scheduled to land in the deserts of Australia towards the year 2031.

The scientific goal is to resolve a long-standing debate regarding the formation of these moons. One theory, known as the "giant impact hypothesis," suggests that they were formed after a celestial body collided with Mars with great force. Conversely, the "capture hypothesis" suggests that Phobos and Deimos are actually asteroids originating from the edges of the solar system, which were captured by the planet's gravity. Patrick Michel, a French astrophysicist who is a member of the team, noted to AFP that solving the mystery will help us understand "how an environment suitable for life developed on rocky planets." Developing the spacecraft's landing legs was particularly challenging for the engineers, as the gravity on Phobos is almost non-existent.

However, Japan is not the only country that has its eyes on our red neighbor. The competing Chinese program, named Tianwen-3, is scheduled to be launched towards the year 2028, and it plans to return samples directly from the surface of Mars itself as early as 2031. Such an achievement could beat the Japanese. At the same time, the fate of the sample collection program of the Perseverance rover from NASA remains in the fog, this after the funding for the mission was effectively canceled by the US Congress and the administration of Donald Trump, according to the report in the 'Economic Times'.