Sailing the planets: Exploring Mars with guided balloons

From the article:

Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have, by now, spent almost two years on the surface of Mars. They traveled several miles each, frequently stopping and analyzing scientific targets with their cameras, spectrometers and other instruments to uncover evidence of liquid water on Mars in the past. Their mission is a smashing success for NASA. But what if NASA had a platform on Mars that was able to cover these distances in a matter of hours instead and study the rocks on the surface in the same detail as rovers do? Scientific return from such a vehicle would be immense – scientists would be able to study the whole planet in greater detail in a time span of a single year.

Read the full article here:  Science-News_Sailing.pdf (749 downloads)

MORE ABOUT PLANETARY BALLOONS
Read more about Planetary Balloons here