Japan Successfully Launches H3 Rocket with MMX Mars Sample-Return Mission

Nikkei reports JAXA launched an H3 rocket carrying the MMX probe from Tanegashima Space Center on October 20. The probe separated from the rocket about an hour and 11 minutes after liftoff and entered its planned orbit. MMX is bound for Mars’s moon Phobos, where it aims to collect sand for a planned first-ever sample return from the Martian system.