Deimos and Phobos Interior Explorer Deimos and Phobos Interior Explorer Deimos and Phobos Interior Explorer (DePhine) is a European mission concept to use a dedicated orbiter to explore the two Moons of Mars: Phobos and Deimos. The mission concept was proposed in 2016 to the European Space Agency's Cosmic Vision programme for launch in 2030, but it was not chosen as a finalist for the M5 mission class. DePhine was proposed in 2016 to ESA's Cosmic Vision programme as an M-class (medium class) mission for launch in 2030 as the M5 mission. It was proposed by the Institute of Planetary Research of the German Aerospace
Martian Moons Exploration Phobos, and land once or twice and gather sand-like regolith particles using a simple pneumatic system. The lander mission aims to retrieve a minimum of samples. The spacecraft will then take off from Phobos and make several flybys of the smaller moon Deimos before sending the Sample Return Capsule back to Earth, arriving in July 2029. The mission architecture uses three modules: propulsion module (1,800 kg), exploration module (150 kg) and the return module (1,050 kg). With the mass of Deimos and Phobos being too small to capture a satellite, it is not possible to orbit the Martian moons in