Let’s go to Phobos!
JAXA’s MMX (Martian Moons eXploration) mission was successfully launched yesterday. Its goal: to explore Phobos, one of Mars’s two moons, and bring back samples to better understand the origin and evolution of the Martian system.
And what about EREMS in all this?
We contributed by supplying the PCDU (Power Conditioning and Distribution Unit) onboard the IDEFIX rover, developed by CNES and DLR. This launch marks an important milestone for our teams, following several years of development, design, testing, and qualification of this equipment.
The PCDU: at the heart of the rover’s power management.
It manages, converts, and distributes electrical power to the rover’s various components. It thus ensures that the power supply is tailored to the needs of the onboard systems in a particularly demanding space environment.
So what are the next steps?
The launch marks the beginning of a long journey leading up to operations on the surface of Phobos. Several major milestones still lie ahead for the MMX mission:
2027–2030: journey to Mars, entry into orbit, and observations of Phobos and Deimos, followed by sample collection on Phobos and deployment of the IDEFIX rover.
2031: return to Earth of the samples collected on Phobos, with a planned landing in the Australian desert.
For EREMS, the deployment of the rover and its operations on the surface of Phobos will be particularly important milestones in our contribution to the mission.
More information about the mission: