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December 2015, making it the first Japanese spacecraft to orbit another planet, sixteen years after the originally planned orbital insertion of Nozomi. JAXA is also reviewing a new spacecraft mission to the Martian system; a sample return mission to Phobos called MMX (Martian Moons Explorer). First revealed in 9 June 2015, MMX’s primary goal is to determine the origin of the Martian moons. Alongside collecting samples from Phobos, MMX will perform remote sensing of Deimos, and may also observe the atmosphere of Mars as well. As of January 2016, MMX is to be launched in fiscal year 2022. Even though there are not many successful interplanetary missions under JAXA’s belt, JAXA has excelled in other space research such as asteroid sample collection program with Hayabusa or successful launching of solar sails.

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