Abstract
A new mission to investigate the Martian surface and interior structures using multiple penetrator probes is proposed. As a decelerator and a heat shield during the Martian atmospheric entry, a flare-type thin membrane aeroshell sustained by an inflatable torus frame will be applied to attain a compact and low-weight space vehicle. After separation from a carrier spacecraft, four identical penetrators will be deployed at intervals of a few hundreds kilometers from each other and penetrate into surface material up to a depth of 2 to 3 meters. Each penetrator installed seismometer system and a heat-flow probe will operate on the potential active regions in volcanism or seismic fault zones, associated with magmatic tectonics, crustal structure and current thermal state of Mars. A meteorological sensor package embedded in a backside of the aeroshell will observe the atmospheric structure during the entry, and it will possibly keep monitoring the Martian climate change on the surface. This paper describes the Martian penetrator design, the sequence of its deployment phase, onboard instruments, and their operational strategy.
