The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced a mission to visit the two moons of Mars and return a rock sample to Earth. This has led to a major question about their formation: were these moons formed from Mars or are they actually captured asteroids? JAXA’s Martian Moon eXploration Mission (MMX) is due to launch in September 2024 and arrive at Mars in August 2025. International collaborationsThe excitement for a Mars moon mission has led to strong international involvement in MMX. This will allow the rocks of the Martian moons to be investigated down to a few tenths of a metre.

Source: Huffington Post May 01, 2017 20:15 UTC