Future Mars missions

[radarredux]

Cleaning up all the documents on my computer desktop, I ran across the press kit for the MERs. In it they include a nice synopsis of future Mars missions. Also at then end discussion they talk about switching from a "follow the water" to "follow the carbon" approach.<br /><br /><ul type="square"><li><font color="yellow">Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter</font>(2005): This mission is being developed to provide detailed information about thousands of sites on Mars, connecting the big-picture perspective of an orbiter with a level of local detail that has previously come only from landing a spacecraft on the surface. The spacecraft's telescopic camera will reveal martian landscapes in resolution fine enough to show rocks the size of a desk. Maps of surface minerals will be produced in unprecedented detail for thousands of potential future landing sites. Scientists will search in particular for types of minerals that form in wet environments. Aradar instrument on the orbiter will probe hundreds of meters (or yards) below Mars' surface for layers of frozen or melted water, and other types of geologic layers. Another instrument will document atmospheric processes changing with Mars' seasons, and study how water vapor enters, moves within and leaves the atmosphere.<br /><li><font color="yellow">Phoenix Mars Scout</font>(2007): This mission will send a spacecraft to land in an ice-rich region of northern Mars, scoop up soil to analyze at the landing site, and radio home evidence about the history of martian water and the possibility of past or current life. NASAchose Phoenix in August 2003 to be the first flight in the Mars Scout program of competitively selected missions. Phoenix will land in May 2008 on arctic ground where Mars Odyssey has found abundant ice near the surface. Astereo color camera and a weather station will study the surrounding environment while other instruments check excavated soil samples for water, organic chemicals and conditi</li></li></ul>