Posted by tourdemars to Airplane at February 17, 2004 12:00 PM

While Spirit and Opportunity inch along the surface of Mars, engineers are working on a future robotic scout that trades in wheels for wings. Project ARES, which is both the Greek name for Mars as well as NASA's acronym for the Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey, was a candidate for the agency's first Mars Scout mission — a competitive, low-cost, highly focused science mission intended to enhance the agency's overall Mars exploration program. Managers opted for a lander instead of the airplane for the first Scout flight opportunity in 2007.