Enter M-MATISSE, a potential precursor to a crewed mission to the Red Planet which could use UK instrumentation being promoted at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting 2025 in Durham to revolutionise our understanding of space weather on Mars.
It would involve sending two robot orbiters to the fourth planet from the Sun to unravel the complex workings of the Martian magnetosphere (the region around a planet dominated by its magnetic field), ionosphere (a layer of ionized gas in the upper atmosphere) and thermosphere (where Mars loses its atmospheric gases to space), as well as the planet's lower atmosphere and radiation build-up.
This, researchers say, could help forecast potentially hazardous situations for spacecraft and astronauts, making it an essential precursor to any future robotic and human exploration.
It will also shed further light on the planet's habitability.
If the project gets the green light from the European Space Agency (ESA) next year, M-MATISSE would be the first mission solely dedicated to understanding planetary space weather at Mars.
Dr Beatriz Sanchez-Cano, of the University of Leicester, said: "M-MATISSE will provide the first global characterisation of the dynamics of the Martian system at all altitudes, to understand how the atmosphere dissipates the incoming energy from the solar wind, including radiation, as well as how different surface processes are affected by space weather activity.
"This is important because understanding the behaviour of the Martian system and the chain of processes that control space weather and space climate at Mars is essential for exploration.
"It leads to accurate space weather forecasts (i.e. accurate understanding of solar energy and particles at Mars) and, thus, prevents hazardous situations for spacecraft and humans on the Red Planet, as we well know from Earth space weather monitoring experience."
M-MATISSE, the 'Mars Magnetosphere ATmosphere Ionosphere and Space-weather SciencE', is one of the current three candidates in competition for ESA's next 'medium' mission. It is expected that one candidate mission will be chosen by mid-2026.
Solar Orbiter and Euclid are other examples of flying medium-class ESA missions, while Plato and Ariel are currently being built for launch in the next six years.
If selected, M-MATISSE would study Mars using two identical spacecraft, each carrying an identical set of instruments to observe the Red Planet simultaneously from two different locations in space.
One of the spacecraft, named Henri, would spend most of its time within the Martian plasma system, while the other called Marguerite is intended to mainly be in the solar wind and/or far tail of Mars, a largely unexplored region.
The mission could reveal how the solar wind influences Mars's atmosphere, ionosphere and magnetosphere. It also aims to investigate the impact of these interactions on Mars's lower atmosphere and surface, which is a key aspect to understand the Red Planet's habitability, as well as the evolution of its atmosphere and climate.
Dr Sanchez-Cano, winner of the RAS Fowler Award in 2022, added: "The UK is spearheading this large international effort during the mission selection phase.
"In particular, it is responsible for the particle instrument suite which will provide the most accurate to date observations of all particles at Mars, including neutrals, ions and electrons of different energies.
"It is also responsible for the mission Science Centre, where in coordination with the European Space Agency, the science of the mission will be planned and its data exploitation coordinated."
To find out more about the mission concept, visit: https://le.ac.uk/physics/research/space-projects-instrumentation/projects/m-matisse
The talk 'The M-MATISSE mission: Mars Magnetosphere ATmosphere Ionosphere and Space weather SciencE. An ESA Medium class (M7) candidate in Phase-A.' will take place at NAM at 14:55 BST on Wednesday 9 July 2025 in room TLC101. Find out more at: https://conference.astro.dur.ac.uk/event/7/contributions/458/
Related Links
M-MATISSE
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
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