A SOPHISTICATED LANDER FOR SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION OF MARS - SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MARS-96 SMALL STATION

A mission to Mars including two Small Stations, two Penetrators and an Orbiter was launched at Baikonur, Kazakhstan: on 16 November 1996. Th is was called the Mars-96 mission. The Small Stations ere expected to land in September 1997 (L, approximately 178 degrees), nominally to Am azonis-Arcadia region on locations (33 N, 169.4 W) and (37.6 N, 161.9W ). The fourth stage of the Mars-96 launcher mal-functioned and hence t he mission was lost. However, the state of the art concept of the Smal l Station can be applied to future Martian lander missions. Also, from the manufacturing and performance point of view, the Mars-96 Small St ation could be built as such at low cost, and be fairly easily accommo dated on almost any forthcoming Martian mission. This is primarily due to the very simple interface between the Small Station and the spacec raft. The Small Station is a sophisticated piece of equipment. With th e total available power of approximately 400 m W the Station successfu lly supports an ambitious scientific program. The Station accommodates a panoramic camera, an alpha-proton-x-ray spectrometer, a seismometer , a magnetometer, an oxidant instrument, equipment for meteorological observations, and sensors for atmospheric measurement during the desce nt phase, including images taken by a descent phase camera. The total mass of the Small Station with pay-load on the Martian surface, includ ing the airbags, is only 32 kg. Lander observations.on the surface of Mars combined data from Orbiter instruments will shed on the contempor ary Mars and its evolution. As in the Mars-96 mission specific science goals could be exploration of the interior and surface of Mars, inves tigation of the structure and dynamics of the :atmosphere, the role of water and other materials containing volatiles and in situ studies of the atmospheric boundary layer processes. To achieve the scientific g oals of the mission the lander should carry a versatile set of instrum ents. The Small Station accommodates devices far atmospheric measureme nts, geophysical I-and geochemical studies of the Martian surface and interior, and cameras for descent phase and panoramic; views. These in struments would be able to contribute remarkably to the process of sol ving some of the scientific puzzles of Mars. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.