Japanese space agency leading five-year mission to Phobos, one of ‘most important unclimbed mountains in the solar system’Japan is to launch a spacecraft on the world’s first mission to bring back samples from Phobos, one of the two small, potato-shaped moons orbiting Mars.Scientists hope the mission, which is expected to take five years, will provide clues to how Phobos and its smaller sibling Deimos formed, and hopefully even shed light on the origins of life in the solar system. Japan is launching a spacecraft on a groundbreaking mission to bring back samples from Phobos, one of Mars' moons Key points and original sources are listed below.

• Japanese space agency leading five-year mission to Phobos, one of ‘most important unclimbed mountains in the solar system’Japan is to launch a spacecraft on the world’s first mission to bring back samples from Phobos, one of the two small, potato-shaped moons...S1

• Japan is launching a spacecraft on a groundbreaking mission to bring back samples from Phobos, one of Mars' moonsS2