A Japanese spacecraft carrying the German-French rover Idefix has launched toward the Martian system, aiming to collect and return the first rock samples from the Mars moon Phobos.
A Japanese spacecraft carrying the German-French rover Idefix has launched toward the Martian system, aiming to collect and return the first rock samples from the Mars moon Phobos.
A rocket went up. A rover is riding along. Phobos is still exactly where it was. This was on every space agency’s whiteboard for years; the only shock is pretending the ignition sequence is breaking news. Wake me when a rock actually comes back, not when a press release reaches orbit.