火星衛星探査、２年延期へ　宇宙基本計画の工程表改定案―内閣府

　内閣府の宇宙政策委員会は５日、来年に予定されていた火星衛星探査計画「ＭＭＸ」の探査機打ち上げを、２０２６年に２年延期することなどを盛り込んだ宇宙基本計画の工程表改定案を大筋で了承した。年内に開かれる政府の宇宙開発戦略本部（本部長・岸田文雄首相）で正式決定される。
　今年３月のＨ３ロケット１号機の打ち上げ失敗による影響。このほか、Ｈ３での打ち上げが予定されている国際宇宙ステーション（ＩＳＳ）への新型補給機（ＨＴＶ―Ｘ）や、インドとの協力で月の南極域に探査機を着陸させる計画（ＬＵＰＥＸ）なども１年程度遅れる。（2023/12/05-20:29）

Japan's Committee on National Space Policy on Tuesday broadly approved the idea of delaying the planned launch of a Martian moon probe by two years to 2026.
   The delay is included in a draft revision of a project timetable in the country's space basic plan, for which the committee under the Cabinet Office gave broad approval. The revised timetable will be adopted at a meeting of the Strategic Headquarters for National Space Policy later this month.
   The mission, called MMX, to explore the red planet's two moons of Phobos and Deimos will be delayed following the failed launch of the first vehicle of the H3 rocket in March this year.
   Other missions will also be delayed by about a year, including the launch of the new unmanned resupply vehicle HTV-X to deliver goods to the International Space Station and the LUPEX project to land a probe near the lunar south pole in cooperation with India.
   In the MMX mission, Japan plans to use the probe to bring back samples from Phobos. The spacecraft was to be launched on an H3 rocket in 2024, arrive near Mars in fiscal 2025 and return to Earth in fiscal 2029.