In this paper, we assess the scientific promise and technology feasibility of distributed instruments for planetary science. A distributed instrument is an instrument designed to collect spatially and temporally correlated data from multiple networked, geographically distributed point sensors. Distributed instruments are ubiquitous in Earth science, where they are routinely employed for weather and climate science, seismic studies and resource prospecting, and detection of industrial emissions. However, to date, their adoption in planetary surface science has been minimal. It is natural to ask whether this lack of adoption is driven by low potential to address high-priority questions in planetary science; immature technology; or both. To address this question, we survey high-priority planetary science questions that are uniquely well-suited to distributed instruments. We identify four areas of research where distributed instruments hold promise to unlock answers that are largely inaccessible to monolithic sensors, namely, weather and climate studies of Mars; localization of seismic events on rocky and icy bodies; localization of trace gas emissions, primarily on Mars; and magnetometry studies of internal composition. Next, we survey enabling technologies for distributed sensors and assess their maturity. We identify sensor placement (including descent and landing on planetary surfaces), power, and instrument autonomy as three key areas requiring further investment to enable future distributed instruments. Overall, this work shows that distributed instruments hold great promise for planetary science, and paves the way for follow-on studies of future distributed instruments for Solar System in-situ science.

Commercial spaceflight companies like SpaceX have made space travel more accessible, and allow more research for future missions to the moon and Mars, astronauts said. A robotic space chemist could create oxygen on Mars using materials from the planet's surface, Chinese researchers behind the project say. A refrigerator-sized machine equipped with artificial intelligence and a robotic arm broke down material from five meteorites and analyzed it to identify a chemical formula that creates a substance that can cause oxygen to separate from water. Researchers said it would have taken a human 2,000 years to find that formula. WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?

AIM AND GENERAL PHILOSOPHY The general profile and overarching goal of our proposed mission is to pioneer potentially highly beneficial, or even vital, and cost-effective techniques for the future human colonization of Mars. Adopting radically new and disruptive solutions untested in the Martian context, our approach is one of high risk and high reward. The real possibility of such a solution failing has prompted us to base our mission architecture around a rover carrying a set of 6 distinct experimental payloads, each capable of operating independently on the others, thus substantially increasing the chances of the mission yielding some valuable findings. At the same time, we sought to exploit available synergies by assembling a combination of payloads that would together form a coherent experimental ecosystem, with each payload providing potential value to the others. Apart from providing such a testbed for evaluation of novel technological solutions, another aim of our proposed mission is to help generate scientific know-how enhancing our understanding of the Red Planet. Mars has been attracting scientific attention predominantly as the most likely planet to provide direct indication of life beyond Earth [1] as well as for its potential habitability [2]. While several robotic missions seeking to find signs of Martian life have already taken place (e.g., Curiosity), substantial areas of the Martian landscape remain unexplored. Chiefly, research indicates that lava tubes on Mars might provide conditions particularly conducive to life, due to stable temperatures and shielding from radiation [3]. Of equal interest is the exploration of conditions that might support life on Mars in the future. Developing reliable strategies for plant growth, for instance, will likely prove crucial for future Martian outposts. By way of example, studies on Earth have shown that certain species of fungi can thrive in extreme environments and even develop resilience to high levels of radiation [4]. Our ability to understand and take advantage of such opportunities might prove indispensable for humanity's future colonization of Mars. To this end, our mission takes aim at the Nili-Fossae region, rich in natural resources (and carbonates in particular), past water repositories and signs of volcanic activity. With our proposed experimental payloads, we intend to explore existing lava -tubes, search for signs of past life and assess their potentially valuable geological features for future base building. We will evaluate biomatter in the form of plants and fungi as possible food and base-building materials respectively.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has achieved yet another first after capturing the sounds of another spacecraft hovering on the red planet. Using the microphone on its rock-zapping SuperCam instrument, the six-wheeled robot listened to the sounds of the Ingenuity helicopter on April 30 and recorded the whirring of its fast-spinning rotors. This marked the first time a spacecraft has recorded audio of another probe on a world beyond Earth. This was the chopper's fourth flight since Perseverance and Ingenuity landed together on Feb. 18 on the floor of Mars' Jezero Crater, NASA said in a statement. A video recently released by NASA combined the footage from Perseverance's Mastcam-Z imager of the solar-powered helicopter with the recorded audio, allowing scientists to know how the robot is performing just by tuning in to the sound it makes.

The helicopter sent to Mars by NASA to explore the Red Planet from the sky has'phoned home' and is working great, according to the space agency. Named Ingenuity, it rode to Mars strapped to the belly of the car-sized Perseverance rover that will trundle along the Jezero crater in search of ancient alien life. NASA mission control in Southern California received the first status report from Ingenuity late on Friday via the space-based Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Ingenuity will remain attached the belly of Perseverance for between 30 and 60 days before it detaches and makes its maiden flight - assuming it survives the brutal average -90C overnight temperatures found on the Red Planet. NASA shared an exciting image shot by the sky crane that shows Perseverance, nicknamed Perky, slung beneath and attached to mechanical bridals – moments before making landfall. The downlink confirmed that the helicopter, and an electrical box on the rover that routes and stores communications with Earth, were both performing as expected.

Los Angeles – NASA's science rover Perseverance, the most advanced astrobiology laboratory ever sent to another planet, streaked through the Martian atmosphere on Thursday and landed safely on the floor of a vast crater, its first stop on a search for traces of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet. Mission managers at the U.S. space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles burst into applause, cheers and fist-bumps as radio beacons signaled that the six-wheeled rover had survived its perilous descent and arrived within its target zone inside Jezero Crater, site of a long-vanished Martian lake bed. "Touchdown confirmed," Swati Mohan, the lead guidance and operations specialist announced from the control room. The robotic vehicle sailed through space for nearly seven months, covering 293 million miles (472 million km) before piercing the Martian atmosphere at 12,000 miles per hour (19,000 km per hour) to begin its descent to the planet's surface. Moments after touchdown, Perseverance beamed back its first black-and-white images from the Martian surface, one of them showing the rover's shadow cast on the desolate, rocky landing site.

A NASA spacecraft's six-month journey to Mars neared its dramatic grand finale Nov. 26 in what scientists and engineers hoped would be a soft precision landing on flat red plains. The InSight lander aimed for an afternoon touchdown, as anxiety built among those involved in the $1 billion international effort. InSight's perilous descent through the Martian atmosphere, after a trip of 300 million miles, had stomachs churning and nerves stretched to the max. Although an old pro at this, NASA last attempted a landing at Mars six years ago. The robotic geologist – designed to explore Mars' mysterious insides – must go from 12,300 mile per hour to zero in six minutes flat as it pierces the Martian atmosphere, pops out a parachute, fires its descent engines and, hopefully, lands on three legs.

Nasa intends to study Mars from the sky, with the help of a miniature helicopter. The world first would see the US space agency launch the drone-like craft to Mars in 2020, reaching the red planet in early 2021. Known simply as The Mars Helicopter, the device weighs less than four pounds (1.8 kilograms), and its main body section, or fuselage, is about the size of a softball. It will serve as a proof of concept, demonstrating that airborne drones work well on Mars, and could pave the way for a fleet of the machines. Because of the thin atmosphere on the Red Planet, the helicopter's blades will spin at almost 3,000 rpm, approximately ten times faster than on Earth.

The globe of Mars, as seen in a mosaic of images from the Viking orbiters. In the Martian north, summer brings a nightly dusting of snow. This surprising scene comes courtesy of new simulations of flip-flopping layers in the Martian atmosphere, which mix more vigorously than expected and produce stormy weather. Though still virtual, the snow shower fits quite well with an observation made by a robot placed on Mars in 2008--and it may offer an explanation for how a very different type of snow falls out of the red planet's polar skies. If the simulations are correct, the summertime snow on Mars happens in bursts that can last for several hours, scientists report in a study describing the find published today in the journal Nature Geoscience.

A small robot probe could make history today by becoming the first European spacecraft to survive a landing on Mars - and it is likely to be a bumpy ride. Scientists will be crossing their fingers as Schiaparelli flies itself on autopilot through the Martian atmosphere, which is expected to welcome the probe with stormy weather. The probe will take images of Mars and conduct scientific measurements on the surface, but its main purpose is to test technology for a future European Mars rover. A small robot probe could make history today by becoming the first European spacecraft to survive a landing on Mars, and it might be a bumpy ride. Scientists will be crossing their fingers as Schiaparelli (artist's impression) flies itself on autopilot through the Martian atmosphere, which is expected to welcome the probe with stormy weather You can watch the livestream on MailOnline, at Esa's website, or via its livestream channel.