Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image credit: JAXA

It would seem odd that a spacecraft could seek the origin of fear and terror.

But that is the objective of Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration mission, a bold undertaking set to survey two oddballs circling Mars – the moons Phobos (fear) and Deimos (panic), name tags drawn from Greek mythology.

Phobos is 150-times smaller than Earth’s moon. Deimos in background is 280-times smaller than Earth’s moon and about half the size of Phobos.
Combined images credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; NASA/JPL-Caltech; Malin Space Science Systems; Texas A&M University; University of Arizona

Backed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), this ambitious Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft is headed for a 2024 sendoff. It will visit the two moons loaded with a rich to-do list.

To learn more, go to my new Multiverse Media SpaceRef article — “Japan’s Mission to the Red Planet – Probing the Mysterious Moons of Mars” at:

https://spaceref.com/science-and-exploration/japans-mission-red-planet-probing-mysterious-moons-mars/