Precursory Mission
For the earlier launch window, two delivery concepts were being considered:
- Piggyback delivery attached to the Russian Phobos Grunt Sample Return mission.
- Dedicated launch using the Russian Volna — a converted Submarine/Sea-Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM).
The FMI announced it would launch the demonstration lander on board the Phobos Grunt mission on 2011. However, the MetNet lander was later dropped from the Phobos-Grunt mission due to weight constraints on the spacecraft. Phobos-Grunt later failed to depart Earth orbit and crashed into the Pacific Ocean on January 16, 2012. The precursory mission is now planned for the 2014 launch window.
The key contributions of the precursory mission are:
- Availability of new and high-quality resolution atmospheric vertical structures as well as long-duration (of the order of a Martian year) in situ meteorological and imaging observations at a single or few landing site(s).
- Demonstrate feasibility of the lander concept for a meteorological network mission.
Read more about this topic: Met Net
Famous quotes containing the word mission:
“Not in vain is Ireland pouring itself all over the earth. Divine Providence has a mission for her children to fulfill; though a mission unrecognized by political economists. There is ever a moral balance preserved in the universe, like the vibrations of the pendulum. The Irish, with their glowing hearts and reverent credulity, are needed in this cold age of intellect and skepticism.”
—Lydia M. Child (1802–1880)