A Japanese space probe carrying a German-French rover is set to begin its journey to Mars in October, with the rover eventually due to become the first to explore the surface of one of the planet's moons.
Japan's Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is currently scheduled to launch on October 19, the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) said on Monday, citing plans by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
The launch window runs until November 7.
As part of the mission, the German-French rover Idefix is due to land on the Martian moon Phobos in 2029. A return capsule is then to bring samples from Phobos back to Earth in 2031 - the first samples ever returned from the Martian system.
Idefix is expected to explore the moon's surface for around 100 days.
"Our rover Idefix and the MMX spacecraft of our Japanese partners will begin their journey to the Martian system as one unit," DLR project manager Markus Grebenstein and Julien Baroukh, project manager at French space agency CNES, said in a joint statement.
Their paths will separate only once they reach Phobos. "There, Idefix will make history - as the first rover ever to leave tracks on a Martian moon."
The rover takes its name from Idefix, the small white dog in the French "Asterix" comics, who is known as Dogmatix in English.