Scouting The Red Planet

America's revised program for Mars exploration is now taking firm shape - a program which, in the opinion of every scientific group that has reviewed it, is infinitely better than the plan that existed before the twin disasters of the 1998 Mars missions. That earlier scheme was a wildly over optimistic, underfunded rush to a Mars sample return attempt in 2005, which would have probably collapsed through its sheer implausibility even if the 1998 missions had been totally successful. The revised program is now well defined through 2005 - consisting of two fairly long-range, sophisticated rovers in 2003, and an orbiter in 2005 equipped with an extremely high-powered telescopic camera (among other instruments) and capable of transmitting data back to Earth 12 times faster that Mars Global Surveyor now in Mars orbit can do. Beyond, 2005, however, the program remains flexible while funding positions are more established.

NASA Taps Robots for Mars Missions

The scientists came armed with ideas for a robotic NASA mission using innovative spacecraft that hop, fly, float, roll and dig. By next year, NASA officials hope to select one idea as they prepare to build the new class of robotic spacecraft, called Scouts, for a $300 million mission the space agency intends to launch to Mars by 2007. What the first spacecraft will look like is anyone's guess, but it is likely to be a departure from the group of orbiters and landers NASA has sent to Mars since the 1960s.

Mars Scout Missions Chosen

The ten most promising mission concepts of the 43 proposed to NASA for possible launch to Mars in 2007 as part of the "Scout" program were selected last week to receive funding for six months of continued studies. Included in the ten concepts selected for study are missions to return samples of Martian atmospheric dust and gas, networks of small landers, orbiting constellations of small craft, and a rover that would attempt to establish absolute surface ages of rocks and soils. NASA plans to evaluate the ten innovative concepts using rapid six- month studies as a means for jump-starting the identification of new Mars Scout missions that will compete for a possible launch in 2007. The proposals were submitted to NASA's Mars Exploration Program in the Office of Space Science in Washington, DC, in response to a call for proposals in March 2001. Those selected will receive up to $150,000 each for the study.

Planetary Hit-and-Run Among Creative Ideas Nudged by NASA

If there is an area of science where extreme creativity is needed, it is in planetary exploration, where the logistics are difficult, the unknowns are great and the costs are high. Perhaps for that reason, NASA has taken the exciting step of soliciting innovative, purely conceptual proposals for Mars exploration from the science community and then funding a select group to develop the concepts further.

NASA OKs 10 Mars Scout Concepts

NASA has picked nearly a dozen concepts that deserve further study for exploring Mars, including a red planet platoon of gliders, small landers, and a way to snag Martian atmospheric dust and gas for return to Earth.

NASA Selects First Mars Scout Concepts for Further Study

NASA has selected 10 mission ideas for the exploration of Mars that are to be studied for a possible launch to the red planet in 2007, the agency said Wednesday. Potential missions would return samples of Mars' dust and gas to Earth, employ a fleet of gliders to explore a Martian canyon, position small satellites to analyze the planet's atmosphere and weather, and rely on a surface rover to determine the age of rocks and soils.

Menagerie of Mars Scouts: Bold New Proposals for Exploring The Red Planet

Mars attracts! Everything from a solar-powered hopper and high flying vehicles to a Mother Goose craft that unleashes tiny robotic goslings – these are among the candidates ready to serve as a new breed of future Mars explorer. Dozens of Red Planet exploration schemes are on the table this week, all under NASA review as proposals for the space agency’s Mars Scout program. A little aerial "dogfight" might even be on tap between supporters of sensor-carrying aircraft zipping across Martian skies and advocates of instrumented balloons breezing about the planet.

Red Planet Scouts: Seeking Unexpected Discoveries on Mars

Mars needs spacecraft! That’s the call from NASA as it seeks to populate the Red Planet with a new class of robot explorer -- the Mars Scout. These probes are envisioned as being able to reconnoiter Mars via any number of ways – from orbit, the planet’s surface and subsurface, as well as by floating or flying at low altitude over Martian terrain.

Smaller is Better: Microscouts Make the Grade

Small may soon be big for NASA. A tiny rover vehicle studying an asteroid and a diminutive glider swooping through Martian skies are among the pint-sized spacecraft likely to help explore the solar system over the next decade, says a NASA official.

Scout Spacecraft on Mars: Trustworthy, Thrifty and Brave

Bruised by the recent loss of the $165 million Mars Polar Lander, NASA is studying a new class of smaller, cheaper and more robust spacecraft. These probes could land on Mars to reconnoiter terrain that larger missions could later study in detail. Called appropriately enough "Scouts," two of the 220-pound (100-kilogram) spacecraft could venture to Mars as soon as 2003, said Barry Goldstein, who is leading the study at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).