"Mars airplane"

Flight Journal, Jun 1999

One of the ways in which NASA hopes to celebrate the 100th anniversary of flight in 2003 is to fly a robotic, remotely piloted airplane on Mars. As noted in Aviation Week & Space Technology, the Mars Airplane is designed to fill the gap between landers that provide high-resolution coverage of small areas and orbiters that provide low-resolution coverage of large areas.

Ready to consider powered craft and gliders, NASA hasn't yet chosen a specific design. In a proposed joint U.S./France mission to Mars costing $50 million, the craft would be launched on a European Ariane 5 booster rocket as a piggyback "micromission" payload. It is part of a package said to weigh 400 to 450 pounds. One of its potential uses is to investigate possible landing sites. We'll give you project updates as we find out more; meanwhile, check out NASA's website on this craft:

http://ccf.arc.nasa.gov/dx/basket/storiesetc/MA RSPLpl.html.