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Japan to send unmanned probe to Mars’ moon Phobos

The new colonial movement: Japan revealed yesterday that it plans to send unmanned probe to Mars’ moon Phobos, using the basic designs developed for the asteroid mission Hayabusa-2.

Like Hayabusa-2, they will attempt to grab a sample from Phobos, and will launch in September 2024, returning its sample in 2029.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

3 comments

  • Rodney

    Right into the Phobosian lair. Good luck with that.

  • Brad

    Good for Japan and JAXA! Those moons of Mars need closer looks. And good for JAXA to exploit what they have already developed to accomplish additional missions.

    How hard would it be to send one duplicate of the Dawn spacecraft to investigate both Deimos and Phobos?

  • Edward

    Brad asked: “How hard would it be to send one duplicate of the Dawn spacecraft to investigate both Deimos and Phobos?

    Probably not too hard, but JAXA’s announced mission to explore Phobos and to grab a sample from it should give us quite an education about this moon.

    Every decade, NASA prioritizes possible exploration missions to fit its limited budget. This mission has not made it high enough on NASA’s list, but it got high on JAXA’s. It also was high on Russia’s list, but a decade ago their mission, Phobos-Grunt, failed to leave Earth orbit (part of the reason for Rodney’s comment, as a high percentage of Mars missions have failed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploration_of_Mars#Probing_difficulties ).

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