Japan’s MMX Mission Wants to Bring Martian Moon Samples Back to Earth

It’s difficult to imagine a more daunting journey than one to an alien moon named after the Greek god of fear—especially when three other attempts to make that journey have failed.

And yet, as Japan’s space agency, JAXA, and its collaborators gear up to send a spacecraft to Mars’ formidably named moon, “all the members are filled with a quiet sense of excitement,” says Kiyoshi Kuramoto, who leads the mission’s slew of international scientists.

This mission, called the Martian Moons…