Today, I found myself thinking about aliens.
Japan’s H3 rocket successfully launched the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft on October 20, 2026. It’s heading toward Phobos, one of the two small moons orbiting Mars.
And somehow, this exciting space mission made me wonder…
What do Martians look like these days?
You know, the classic aliens we often see in cartoons. Big heads, enormous eyes, and lots of little tentacles. Maybe something like the alien in my illustration!
I wonder if they look up at the sky and think about us, too.
Imagine Looking at Mars from Phobos
Phobos is much closer to Mars than our Moon is to Earth. If you were standing on its rocky surface, Mars would look enormous in the sky.
Imagine looking up and seeing that giant reddish planet hanging above you. It must be an incredible sight.
Now imagine a little tentacled alien standing there with a telescope.
“Hmm… I wonder what’s happening on Mars today?”
Maybe another alien is looking through a telescope in the opposite direction, trying to spot something on Phobos.
“Hey, something is flying toward our moon!”
Of course, we have no evidence that Martians actually exist. But when I think about how vast the universe is, I can’t help wondering whether there might be life somewhere beyond Earth.
And if there is, would it look anything like the aliens we draw?
Japan’s H3 Rocket and the MMX Mission
Back to reality for a moment!
Japan’s H3 rocket is a next-generation launch vehicle developed by JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, together with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
The rocket is designed to launch satellites and spacecraft, helping Japan take part in everything from Earth observation to deep-space exploration.
This time, it carried the MMX spacecraft on a mission to explore the Martian moons.
MMX will study Phobos and Deimos, with a particular focus on collecting a sample from Phobos and bringing it back to Earth.
Scientists still don’t know exactly how these little moons formed. They may be captured asteroids, or they may have formed from debris left behind after a huge impact involving Mars.
By studying the material collected from Phobos, researchers hope to uncover clues about the origins of these moons and the history of Mars itself.
A Tiny Piece of Space Coming Home in 2031
The MMX mission is planned to return its sample capsule to Earth in 2031, with recovery scheduled in Australia.
Just think about it. A spacecraft travels all the way to the neighborhood of Mars, collects a little material from a distant moon, and brings it back to our planet.
The goal is to collect at least 10 grams of material.
Ten grams sounds like almost nothing. But those tiny grains could help scientists answer questions that have puzzled them for years.
I wonder what they will discover.
Could the samples tell us more about the early history of Mars? Could they help explain how Phobos came to exist?
We’ll have to wait and see.
And What About Those Martians?
My little alien illustration probably isn’t a scientific prediction of what life beyond Earth might look like.
Still, I like the idea of a curious little creature watching a spacecraft arrive from another world.
Perhaps, somewhere in the universe, another being is looking up at the sky and asking exactly the same questions we do.
Are we alone? What lies beyond our world? And what might we discover next?
For now, I’ll keep imagining a little tentacled alien peering through a telescope, watching our spacecraft travel toward Phobos.
And in 2031, when the sample capsule finally returns to Earth, maybe we’ll have a few more clues about our fascinating cosmic neighborhood.
Until then, happy daydreaming!
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