The 1920s promise to be great for fans of space exploration and seekers of extraterrestrial life. Humanity will fly to Mars for the first time, but many believe that we will eventually discover traces of biological life there.
The scientific world gazes at Mars-like flesh at a painted gate. And this fact is not surprising, because everyone dreams of conquering the Red Planet, creating bases and colonies there, thanks to which we will be able to populate a new world full of secrets. This is important to protect humanity from extinction. The vision of becoming a cosmic civilization is also tempting.
However, scientists are not only interested in Mars itself, but above all in its moons, Phobos and Deimos. We do not know much about them yet, and it seems that they are no less interesting than the home planet itself. This seems to be confirmed by the latest research and simulations. It turns out that asteroid impacts on Mars could have thrown organic material onto its moons.
Scientists from the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) want to test these hypotheses. The most important aspect of all recent space probe missions to the Red Planet has been trying to understand the violent events that took place on the planet about 3.7 billion years ago. Well, then it mysteriously lost its thick atmosphere. The Japanese took the right direction because we learned a lot of surprising information about the Earth’s past through intensive research of the Silver Globe and the immediate space of the Blue Planet.
The mission called Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) will involve sending a probe, probe, and rover there. The latter will extract rock material from the moons for further analysis. The launch is to take place in 2024, and the cost of this operation is expected to be around $241 million.
Currently, the robot is being tested in the laboratories of the German Space Agency (DLR) in Bremen. The rover measures 47.5 x 55 x 27.5 centimeters, is equipped with four wheels and solar panels, which are to provide energy for the implementation of planned tasks. The construction of the rover is not easy. Extreme conditions prevail on the moons of Mars. The temperature there varies between minus 150 degrees Celsius and plus 50 degrees Celsius.
Most interestingly, the Japanese intend not only to thoroughly examine both moons of Mars for the first time in history, but also to deliver rock material to the surface of our planet for further analysis. This is not the first time scientists in this country want to do this. Recently, samples of the asteroid Ryugu came to Earth, which was collected by the Hayabusa-2 probe.
The Japanese did not forget about space exploration fans. The probe will feature an ultra-modern 8K Super Hi-Vision camera that will record 8K images of moons. It must be strongly emphasized here that for the first time in the history of Mars exploration, humanity will be able to see images of such quality. Although NASA publishes panoramas from rovers from time to time, they will not clash with what the Japanese camera will offer.
On the occasion of the moons of Mars, it is worth mentioning here that according to the analyzes made on Mars, everything indicates that Phobos, the largest moon on this planet, will cease to exist in the future. Mars will then turn into Lord of the Rings, almost like Saturn. The tidal forces of this planet have a profound effect on Phobos, which is attracted about 2 meters by 100 years and stretched in all directions