Webinar: Martian Moons eXploration Mission

Martian Moon eXploration (MMX) is the 3rd Japanese sample return mission following Hayabusa and Hayabusa-2. The MMX mission transitioned to become a JAXA Project: an official step in mission development (Phase B) in February 2020. The MMX spacecraft is scheduled to be launched in 2024, orbit both Phobos and Deimos (multi-flyby), and retrieve and return >10 g of Phobos regolith back to Earth in 2029. The origins of Phobos and Deimos are still a matter of significant debate: capture of asteroids or in-situ formation by a giant impact on Mars. In either case, MMX will definitely provide clues about their origins and offer an opportunity to directly explore the satellite building blocks or juvenile crust/mantle components of Mars. MMX will also aim to understand physical processes in the circumplanetary environment of Mars. The new knowledge of Phobos/Deimos and Mars will be further leveraged to constrain the initial condition of the Mars-moon system and to gain vital insights regarding the sources and delivery process of water (and organics) into the inner rocky planets.

ABOUT DR. TOMOHIRO USUI
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Tomo Usui received a diploma in geology from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1999 and a Ph.D. in geochemistry from Okayama University in 2004. Usui worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Tennessee and NASA Johnson Space Center. In 2012-2018, he was a faculty of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and an associate PI of Earth-Life Science Institute at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Since 2018 Usui is a full professor at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. He currently serves as a Science Board organizer of Martian Moons Exploration. His current research interest includes the historical evolution of climate, oceans/lakes, and habitability on Mars.