Japan has not shied away from high-risk, high-reward space missions, and despite some setbacks (like the first Hayabusa just bringing back a few little tiny pieces of its target), they keep trying.
According to this article, they're going to try getting some samples of Phobos, the larger of the two little Martian moons. And they think that might also bringing back some Martian dust as a bonus.
And we don't have to wait too long to see this get started, with a launch in 2026 and arrival in 2027. If they successfully retrieve a sample, it'll come back to Earth around 2031.
Below is a link to a BBC article about the mission. There's a fairly significant mistake in the article; see if you can find it.
Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration is a daring mission to moon Phobos that will bring back the first-ever samples from the Mars system.
Speaking of the moons, the European mission to check out what the NASA planetary defense impact did to the little moonlet Dimorphos passed by the red planet for a gravity assist, and got this impressive shot of Deimos over the planetary surface.
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