In late 2007 (or 2009)

CNES The (CNES; French: ''Centre national d'études spatiales'') is the French government space agency (administratively, a "public administration with industrial and commercial purpose"). Its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is und ...

(the French Space Agency) and ESA (

the European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

) had planned to send a remote sensing orbiter and four small Netlanders to

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

. They planned to land them in four different locations. The CNES and ESA cancelled this mission because it was too expensive; both agencies planned to send other orbiters and landers for missions like

ExoMars ExoMars (Exobiology on Mars) is an astrobiology programme of the European Space Agency (ESA). The goals of ExoMars are to search for signs of past life on Mars, investigate how the Martian water and geochemical environment varies, investigate ...

. The Landers' mission was to take pictures of the landing site and explore Mars' internal surface and atmosphere. Each of the four landers was to carry instruments for the following measurements: * Seismometer, IPG, France * Panoramic camera, DLR, Germany * Atmospheric sensors, FMI, Finland * Atmospheric electricity sensor, CETP, France * geodesic and ionospheric measurements, GRGS, France * Soil properties measurements,

University of Münster The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of stud ...

, Germany * Ground Penetrating Radar, CETP, France * Magnetometer, CETP, France * Microphone,

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, USA The Orbiter's mission was to take pictures from orbit, explore Mars' atmosphere and relay information and images from the Netlanders. The MetNet multi-lander mission to Mars is based on the legacy of NetLander. MetNet is scheduled for launches in 2011–2019. The NetLander design has been examined as the basis for a small Solar System body lander, such as a comet.Ulamec & Biele - From the Rosetta Lander Philae to an Asteroid Hipper: Lander concepts for small bodies missions
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References

See also