Mars Airplane M ars has been a target of scientific exploration for more than twenty-five years. Most of this exploration has taken place using orbiting spacecraft or landers. Orbiters offer the ability to image large areas over an extended period of time, but are limited in their resolution. Landers can handle surface and atmospheric sampling, but are limited to the immediate landing site.
Mobility is the key to expanding the scientific knowledge of Mars.
This allowed scientists the freedom to explore the surrounding terrain, maneuver to scientifically interesting sites, and perform an analysis of soil and rock composition over a broader area. In short, it offered many more options to the scientific community. Airborne platforms can achieve science objectives difficult to achieve from orbit or from surface rovers. They can cover much larger distances in a single mission than a rover and are not limited by the terrain, therefore much more easily providing imaging of very rocky or steep terrain. Near infrared spectrometry, crucial to detecting mineralogy on the planet, and high spatial resolution magnetometry, which may provide clues as to the origin of high crustal magnetism seen from orbit, require moving platforms.