JAXA is preparing a Phobos sample return mission. Hacker News commenters praised robotic exploration and discussed upcoming or ongoing missions, including Europa Clipper, JUICE, DAVINCI, VERITAS, Envision, BepiColombo, and Dragonfly to Titan. Some comments joked about Europa and aliens, while others noted Venus sample return is currently impractical and compared the mission to Hayabusa. There was also debate over manned versus unmanned spaceflight: one user argued robotic probes are more cost-effective, another said manned missions matter for becoming interplanetary, and another suggested spreading life or AI could be more efficient than human crews. JAXA was also praised for its high-resolution global elevation model.