Japan Launches Historic Mission to Collect Samples from Mars Moon Phobos

Kathmandu. Japan has launched a historic space mission to collect samples from Mars's moon Phobos and bring them to Earth. Scientists expect this to uncover new facts about the origin of the solar system and the beginning of life on Earth.

According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the H-IIA rocket carrying the unmanned Martian Moon Exploration (MMX) spacecraft was launched from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center on Tuesday morning. The spacecraft successfully separated from the rocket more than an hour after launch.