The two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have accomplished more than their creators thought possible. Stoic, plodding and reliable, they have muscled across the planet's rugged terrain for more than two years, collecting data about the composition of its rocks and soils in the process.

Even the most dogged workhorses, however, have limitations. In their entire time on the planet, the slow-moving rovers have traversed less than 10 square miles, and their sensors cannot collect data more than a few feet above the ground.

To survey areas of the planet that remain unknown, researchers affiliated with the privately financed German Mars Society in Munich are proposing a different kind of explorer: a vehicle inspired more by dirigibles like the Hindenburg than by land-rover predecessors. Projected to reach Mars in 2009, the balloon craft, named Archimedes, would hover much closer to the planet's surface than a satellite, snapping crisp, full-color images similar to those that an Earth photographer might take from a helicopter.



Posted by: Brooke    Source