The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has just revealed plans to approach Phobos, one of Mars’ moons, to search for extraterrestrial life remains in 2024.
According to JAXA, this closest extraterrestrial moon to Earth could be the key to determining whether Mars ever supported life.
Mars and Phobos – (Graphic from NASA data)
Dr. Ryuki Hydo, the head of the research, told the Daily Mail: “Phobos is very unique in terms of its position relative to its parent planet, orbiting very close to Mars.”
With this proximity, JAXA believes that if extraterrestrial life ever existed on Mars, the space impacts could have brought traces of that life to its moon, preserving them over millions or even billions of years.
Scientists refer to what they are searching for as SHIGAI, which can be understood as ancient biological traces that have been sterilized and subjected to harsh radiation, potentially existing in the form of microbial remnants or DNA fragments.
Dr. Hydo revealed that his team will launch the “Martian Moons eXploration” mission, abbreviated as MMX, in 2024, collecting materials from the surface of Phobos and returning them to Earth five years later.
Phobos is the only existing moon orbiting Mars, small and irregularly shaped, and was once suspected by NASA to be a remnant of a larger moon.
