00:02Japan is launching a five-year mission to bring back something no one's ever collected before,
00:07soil from a moon of Mars. The spacecraft is headed for Phobos, one of two small potato-shaped moons
00:14orbiting the Red Planet. It's expected to arrive at Mars next August, then study Phobos before
00:20landing to collect at least 10 grams of soil. Scientists hope those samples will finally answer
00:25a big question. Did Mars capture an asteroid or did the moon form from debris after a massive collision?
00:32These are asteroids that would have been roaming the solar system that were maybe knocked or pulled
00:37too close to Mars and then captured into Mars' gravity and then over time gradually became into
00:43a more stable orbit. The other leading theory is that they are the leftovers from a disk of debris
00:50that was formed by a giant impact into Mars. And there are some nuances on both of those theories,
00:56but it's one of the remarkable things that we've not been able to answer that question yet.
01:01NASA is helping with the mission along with European partners. And if all goes to plan,
01:06those samples will be back on Earth in 2031.
