Japan to launch probe on world's 1st Martian moon sample mission

TOKYO - The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Thursday it plans to launch a space probe later this year on a world-first mission to collect samples, including rock and sand, from one of Mars' moons and bring them back to Earth.

The probe is scheduled to be launched aboard H3 rocket No. 10 from the Tanegashima Space Center on Tanegashima, a small island in southwestern Japan, at 4:41 a.m. on Oct. 20 for the Martian Moons Exploration mission, or MMX.