Sights set on Mars’ moons

Long shot: People taking photographs in front of a full-size model of the H-II launch vehicle at the Tanegashima space centre in Minamitane, Kagoshima prefecture. — AFP

Unmanned mission to uncover clues to solar system’s origins

Scientists are ­rea­dy­­ing a mission to Mars’ moons to retrieve samples that may unlock the origins of the solar system and life on Earth, although a rival Chinese mission aims to make it back first.