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Announcement of opportunity for
membership of the Science Strategy Teams
of the JAXA Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) Mission

13 February 2023

Through this Announcement of Opportunity (AO) the European Space Agency (ESA) solicits proposals for membership of the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission Science Strategy Teams.

The AO is open to scientists affiliated with institutes in the ESA Member States. As a result of this AO, ESA will select up to two members for each of the five MMX Science Strategy Teams. The appointments are for a renewable term of three years and will be ad personam.

Early Career Scientists are specifically encouraged to apply.

The Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is a JAXA-led mission that will fly to Mars orbit to investigate Phobos and Deimos, and will sample > 10 g of material from the surface of Phobos for return to Earth for scientific analysis.

The key scientific goals of MMX are:

• To reveal the origin of Mars’ moons, and to improve our understanding of planetary system formation and of primordial material transport around the border between the inner and outer regions in the early Solar System.
• To observe processes that have impact on the evolution of the Mars system and to advance our understanding of Mars’ surface environmental transition.

The mission builds on the technical and operational experience that JAXA has developed in the field of sample return from small bodies with the Hayabusa missions. The MMX mission is scheduled for launch in September 2024.

The MMX Science Working Team (SWT) contains five dedicated Science Strategy Teams (SSTs) formed to address a set of science objectives that are derived from the overall mission science goals. The members of the Science Strategy Teams are part of the SWT.

The five SSTs cover the following themes

• Origin of Phobos and Deimos;
• Early Solar System evolution;
• Surface science and geology;
• Mars science;
• Geodesy.

The MMX SSTs meet two times per year in person to discuss mission status, relevant science topics, and to plan mission science related activities. Other interactions are scheduled via teleconferences, and activities are expected to intensify as launch approaches.

SST members will have access to data acquired during mission operations to achieve their science objectives. It is expected that all members will participate in the analysis and publication of mission data.

An invitation from the ESA Director of Science to respond to this Announcement of Opportunity can be found in the right-hand menu.

Full details of the appointment requirements and conditions, the required contents and format of the proposal, and the evaluation criteria are given in the AO document, available to download from the right-hand menu. The MMX Science Management Plan is also available to consult.

Submission form

Proposals in PDF format must be submitted using the submission form linked below, before the deadline of 22 March 2023, 12:00 (noon) CET.

Schedule

The schedule for this AO is given in the table below:

Contact

Last updated: 21 July 2023

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