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Once in a while I have a thought experiment. Lately the trend toward studying the Martian atmosphere and water/carbon content seems to be overwhelming the planet's study to a point where all other concepts are defunct before their proposals are submitted. One such area I noted is seismology...and it is a field Mars as well as other planetary bodies of interest (Europa namely) that is underestimated.
This quote from http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Plan_ … n_999.html sumarizes what I'm saying well:
...the Core and Augmented versions of Plan G would also have another major addition: a 200-kg Martian hard lander that would be carried piggyback on the main spacecraft, which would eject the lander just before braking into Mars orbit (as with the unsuccessful little Beagle 2 lander that rode on Europe's Mars Express). An alternate Augmented version of the "Plan A" atmosphere-focused version of MSO might also carry such a lander, instead of the SAR radar mapper.
Mars scientists, for decades, have wanted to fly a "network mission" that would scatter four or more tiny landers widely across Mars, carrying seismometers and weather sensors to give us a detailed look at the planet's internal structure and geological activity, as well as a better look at its surface weather.
But this mission, like Cinderella, has been repeatedly slighted and pushed into the future by the overriding need to look for evidence of life on the planet...
The idea I had was this: the Mars Geology Multiprobe; a catchier name I thought of was Geb, for the Egyptian Earth God which seemed appropriate for a geology mission. The idea is a small, but robust, penetrometer/lander with three mission-specific instruments:
-Seisometer
-Thermocouple i.e. "Heat-Flow Probe"
-Penetrometer
Overall a Geb lander would ressemble a bigger Deep Space 2 but with its upper half covered completely with solar cells, save the antenna. No cameras unless room is squeezed, but possibly mini-weather sensors (at the least thermometers which could aid the heat-flow experiments) could be strung along antenna. No moving parts, no deploying mechanisms same the antenna, and thermal insolation for the electronics and seisometer would be the engineering focus to minimize costs. Four of these landers in an arrangement akin to the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe would ride on a modified Pathfinder-style bus, but unlike Pioneer Venus Multiprobe all the probes are identical, also to keep costs down.
At Mars one by one they'd seperate to either cover one region or widely-seperated sites - considering Pioneer Venus sent its salvio of probes to spots around 2/3 of Venus the later seems possible and preferable if you wish to gauge Mars' global geologic status. Each lander enters, deploys parachute, sheds heatshield ala Pathfinder/rover style. Nothing fancy after that though - the chute would slow Geb but only to less than 100mph. At less than 100 meters Geb would pop off the parachuted backshell and land land-dart style, using the speed to spear its penetrometer at least a meter down. Anteanna pops on...and that's it. Geb sits for as long as its solar cells can soak power effectively while listening for quakes & landslides and watching the suface & subsurface temps rise and fall. The penetrometer, while only a one-use device, would still gauge the soil strength so the seisometer readings could be better interpreted.
The landing sites are these along with their reasons:
-Elysium Planitia- Proximity to the second-largest volcanic complex on the planet; also easier to access than Tharsis or the Southern Hemisphere's ancient montes.
-Echus Chasma- Proximity to Tharsis to west and Valles Marineris to south but without extreme altitude or steep slopes to contend with.
-Hellas Planitia- Hellas ringed with volcanic features; coupled with being deepest region on surface might prove to be ideal listening post for mantle/core activity; depth likewise might show noticeable heatflow difference.
-South of Olympus Mons/Gigas Sulci- Nearest low elevation area to both Olympus Mons and Tharsis Montes; prime listening post; would solidly confirm if Olympus or Tharsis are active.
Elysium and Echus are the easiest to get to while Olympus is likely an undertaking, and Hellas slightly tricky since it is farther from equator and a spawning ground for dust storms, but I honestly believe each region would be logical to send a geologic seismic lander to. Check out Google Mars and look up each of these sites yourselves to evaluate an opinion: http://www.google.com/mars/
A mission like Geb would be possible today I'm sure - the Russians already built penetrometers akin to this for Mars '96...the poor rocket just screwed up in launch sadly, and in case of Deep Space 2 I'd wager it was the too fast too cheap and "WHAT NO PARACHUTES ARE YOU KIDDING?!" that smattered it like cheap tin-foil. We do need something like this sooner or later - if we want to honestly learn not just volcanic history but Mars' history we need its core read.
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Checked out MetNet? - it does a lot more, but no seismometer.
[color=darkred]Let's go to Mars and far beyond - triple NASA's budget ![/color] [url=irc://freenode#space] #space channel !! [/url] [url=http://www.youtube.com/user/c1cl0ps] - videos !!![/url]
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Yes I have. I like the concept but I imagine NASA would be very "iffy" about using inflatables for reentry and decent...but if ESA proves the tech or offers a joint concept they might be persuaded.
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