Instruments

What are science instruments?

Science instruments are state-of-the-art tools for acquiring information about Martian geology, atmosphere, environmental conditions, and potential biosignatures.

Science instruments for this mission

To answer compelling research questions, NASA's plans include openly competing the opportunity for the mission's specific science payload.

Following established processes of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, this process begins with the establishment of a science definition team tasked to outline the mission's objectives, realistic surface operations, a proof-of-concept instrument suite, and suggestions for threshold science measurements that would meet the proposed objectives.

Once these guidelines are complete, scientists and engineers would create competitive teams focused on designing instruments to match the established criteria, and NASA would select optimal components from among the submitted proposals.