German-French rover to solve the mystery of Mars’ moons

Berlin (dpa, d.de) – A rover developed in Germany and France set off for Mars on 19 October 2026. It is travelling on board the successfully launched Japanese space probe MMX (Martian Moons eXploration). Named Idefix, the rover was developed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the French space agency CNES. It will explore the surface of the Martian moon Phobos with a view to providing new insights into how Mars’ moons formed.

German technology for Mars research

Weighing around 25 kilograms, the rover is scheduled to land on Phobos around the turn of the year 2028/2029, where it will spend roughly 100 days collecting scientific data. The space probe is expected to reach Mars in the summer of 2027. It will then study Mars’ moons, initially from orbit, and prepare for landing.

The DLR developed among other things the chassis and two scientific measuring instruments that the rover will use to study the composition, temperature and physical properties of Phobos’ surface.

The landing poses a special technical challenge: gravity on Phobos is less than a thousandth of that on Earth. For this reason, Idefix will be dropped from a height of roughly 40 to 100 metres. It will then right itself autonomously and set off to explore a Martian moon - the first rover ever to do so.

The mission aims to determine whether Mars’ moons Phobos and Deimos were originally captured asteroids or were formed as the result of a massive impact. The Japanese space probe is also to gather soil samples from Phobos and bring them back to Earth in 2031.