Japan successfully launched its flagship H3 rocket carrying a probe bound for Mars’ moons early Tuesday, kicking off an ambitious five-year mission to retrieve samples that could shed light on the origins of the solar system and life on Earth.
The 10th H3 rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture at 4:41 a.m., carrying the Martian Moons eXploration probe, known as MMX, developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in collaboration with Mitsubishi Electric.
The probe successfully separated from the rocket and was placed into orbit toward Mars at 5:52 a.m.
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