The spacecraft will blast off from Japan and arrive at Phobos in August 2027. It is set to launch on an ambitious mission to bring 10g of Martian moon dust back to Earth.
A space mission is set to launch on Monday that will attempt to grab a piece of Mars' moon Phobos and bring it back to Earth.
Upon arriving in the Mars neighbourhood, the MMX spacecraft will study Deimos and then focus on Phobos.
If it is successful, this will become the first time a sample has been returned from Mars or its moons to be analysed in laboratories here on Earth.
It is hoped that the Mars Moons Exploration (MMX) mission, which is led by the Japanese Space Agency, will solve the mystery of how Mars's moons formed.