Japan is to launch the world's first mission to bring back samples from Mars's moon Phobos on Tuesday

JAXA's MMX spacecraft is set to launch aboard an H3 rocket from Tanegashima Space Center at 4.41am Japan time, or 19:41 GMT on Monday. The probe will attempt to extract at least 10 grams of soil from two centimetres beneath the surface of Phobos. The mission carries a price tag exceeding 55 billion yen, with the sample capsule expected to return to Earth in 2031. Project manager Yasuhiro Kawakatsu describes Mars's moons as "the most important unclimbed mountains in the solar system".

Russia has tried repeatedly to land on Phobos without success, with the most recent attempt in 2011 ending in failure.

Nasa, the European Space Agency and the French and German space agencies are backing the Japanese-led venture.

Phobos has roughly one two-thousandth of Earth's gravity, so MMX has four special landing legs.