GS Yuasa’s specialist lithium-ion batteries are helping power one of the most ambitious space exploration missions ever undertaken, following the successful launch of a spacecraft destined to collect samples from a Martian moon and return them to Earth.

The Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft, developed under the leadership of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), successfully launched from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center on 20 October 2026.

Equipped with advanced lithium-ion batteries manufactured by GS Yuasa Technology Ltd., part of the global GS Yuasa Group, the spacecraft is beginning a remarkable journey of hundreds of millions of kilometres to investigate the origins of Mars and its two moons, Phobos and Deimos.

The mission represents a major milestone in international space exploration. Bringing together expertise from Japan, Europe and the United States, MMX aims to become the first mission to return samples from the Martian system to Earth, potentially transforming scientists’ understanding of how Mars and its moons formed and evolved.

At the heart of the spacecraft’s electrical power system are GS Yuasa’s specially developed lithium-ion batteries. Designed to operate reliably in the extreme conditions of space, they will provide essential electrical power whenever the spacecraft is outside direct sunlight and unable to rely on its solar arrays.

With the mission expected to continue until 2031, the batteries must support spacecraft operations throughout an extended period in deep space, where reliability is essential and opportunities for maintenance or intervention simply do not exist.