The Mars '07 North Polar Cap deep penetration cryo-scout mission

A 2007 Mars North Polar Cap penetration mission is being proposed under the Mars Scout Discovery Program. The Cryobot robotic mole vehicle being developed by a team of JPL engineers would penetrate 200 meters below the polar ice cap in the only known accessible reservoir of water on the planet. The probe would be manifested with a suite of science instruments which will (1) examine the climatic history of Mars as reflected in the layers of ice-the Mars Surveyor Orbiter Camera (MOC) has revealed exciting images of the polar ice cap indicating the layers to be of the order of 1 to 100 meters thick; (2) look for organics and bio-signatures potentially transported via wind and trapped in the ice; (3) examine trapped minerals and understand the chemical make-up of soluble constituents; and (4) provide the first-ever polar cap surface images as well as characterize the polar cap meteorology. Although radioisotope power is baselined for the Mars '07 version of the Cryobot, no decision on the final design of the Cryobot will be made until the environmental review process is complete. Any use of the Cryobot for Mars will conform to all environmental and planetary protection requirements.