ARES -
Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey
Flying over Mars is the mission
of the proposed Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey (ARES), led by Joel
Levine of NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
"It is a great day for all of us interested in soaring over the Mars surface for new science," Levine told SPACE.com, in learning that ARES has been chosen as a
candidate Scout mission.
"It's a whole new ballgame. We
have to expand the horizon, and an airplane is the perfect tool. We do it on the
Earth and the time has come to do it on Mars," Levine said.
A prototype test article of the
plane, dubbed the Mars Eagle, was successfully flown in September over the
Oregon coast. Mars Eagle was a 50% scale model of the ARES airplane concept.
Winging its way above Mars'
surface, ARES would return significant and previously unobtainable scientific
measurements through the completion of a controlled aerial survey, Levine said.
ARES is targeted to explore the
ancient Southern Highlands on Mars. Four and half billion years of Mars
geological history, dating back to the formation of our Solar System, is
imprinted in this region, Levine said.
Slipping through the Martian
atmosphere, ARES would obtain the first direct measurement of water vapor and
chemically active gas concentrations in the near-surface atmosphere. These
measurements are key in piecing together the issue of past or present life on
Mars and of the chemical coupling between the red planet's atmosphere and
surface.
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"ARES complements and extends
the measurements available from previous Mars missions. The science return, will
include previously unobtainable information on the interior, surface, atmosphere
and early climate of Mars. The ARES data will be profound and inspiring," Levine
promised.
Next page: MARVEL
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