Japan Launched for Mars's Moon With American Instruments Aboard. That Is How America Leads in Space
JAXA's MMX lifted off for Phobos on Oct. 20 carrying NASA's MEGANE spectrometer and sampler, and Uzbekistan became the 77th Artemis Accords signatory on Oct. 19. In our view, strong allies plus American technology and rules is the smartest way to win the space race.
By Clara Hughes
ALTAS WORLD NEWS OPINION | By Clara Hughes, Chief Opinion Editor | October 20, 2026 | 6-min read At 4:41 a.m. Tuesday in southern Japan (3:41 p.m. Monday, Eastern time), an H3 rocket lifted off from Tanegashima carrying a spacecraft bound for Phobos, the larger of Mars's two moons [1]. It is Japan's mission. But riding on one of its landing legs is an American sampler, and on board is an American instrument built by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory to read what Phobos is made of [2]. A day earlier, half a world away, Uzbekistan became the 77th nation to sign the Artemis Accords, the rules for peaceful space exploration launched in President Trump's first term [3]. In our view, this is what American leadership in space looks like: allies flying with us, under rules we wrote. Key Takeaways JAXA launched the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft on H3 flight No. 10 at 04:41:03 JST on Oct. 20, 2026; separation came about 71 minutes after liftoff [1]. NASA's contributions include the MEGANE gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer, built by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, the Pneumatic Sampler