MEGANE

Instrument Type
Gamma-Ray and Neutron

The Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is being developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The MMX spacecraft plans to visit the Martian moon Phobos, land on the surface, collect a surface sample and then deliver that sample to Earth. On behalf of NASA, APL is leading and building one of the spacecraft’s science instruments: a gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer named MEGANE (pronounced “meh-gah-nay”), which will measure the elemental composition of Phobos. MEGANE’s compositional measurements will provide key information to help determine whether Phobos is a captured asteroid or the result of a larger body hitting Mars.

MEGANE builds on experience from the gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer (GRNS) on NASA’s MESSENGER mission to the planet Mercury and will utilize many aspects of the Psyche GRNS, developed for NASA’s Psyche mission.

MMX 

Slated to launch in the mid-2020s, the MMX is a mission led by JAXA that will explore the two Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, returning a sample from one of them and solving the mystery of where these small moons came from.