MARSNET: A European network of stations on the surface of Mars

Following an ESA preliminary study on the possible areas of European participation in the future international exploration of Mars and an ESA call for ideas of new missions, MARSNET, a network of small surface stations, was selected for further in-depth scientific and technical assessment studies as a potential European contribution to such exploration. Subsequently, the MARSNET phase A studies started in the autumn of 1991. The industrial kickoff took place in early January 1992, following the tender evaluation and the decision to select the Aerospatiale-led consortium including Dornier, Alcatel, Laben, and Etca to perform the industrial studies. The phase A studies ended in early 1993. However, critical items such as an instrument deployment device continue to be studied in the framework of ESA's Technology Research Program. The MARSNET mission consists of a network of three semihard landers to be placed on the Martian surface, several thousand kilometers apart, thus defining a regional/global seismological and meteorological network in the Tharsis region. The small stations would be targeted for landing at scientifically interesting sites in this region of Mars, which is the most likely area to still show tectonic activity; this would allow the seismometers to acquire data for the determination of the internal structure of the planet. Landing site geology and geochemistry will also be studied.