JAXA schedules MMX Mars-moon sample-return launch for October 20
JAXA set an October 20 launch date for its Martian Moons eXploration sample-return mission aboard H3 flight F10.
what happened
JAXA announced August 20 that its Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft is scheduled to launch October 20, 2026 at 4:41:03 JST aboard an H3 rocket, flight F10, from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at Tanegashima Space Center. JAXA reserved a backup launch period of October 21 through November 7 in case the primary date slips, and said the exact launch time may vary within that window.
why it matters
MMX will be H3's tenth flight and JAXA's first attempt at an interplanetary sample return, sending the vehicle out with a high-value payload after nine prior H3 missions. A clean launch keeps Japan's H3 manifest, which also carries commercial and government payloads, on the schedule JAXA has been rebuilding after the vehicle's earlier delays.
for who
Japanese launch-vehicle watchers and planetary science mission planners
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- JAXA
- Category
- science
- Impact
- notable
- SNR
- 5 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-08-20
- Published
- 2026-08-20 05:32 UTC