What is the best Mars mission we have now or that will arrive in December/January, and why do you think so?
Is it:
Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Odyssey
Mars Express
Mars Exploration Rovers
Nozomi
Mars Global Surveyor returns amazing pictures every day (
MGS Picture of the Day) and the MOLA instrument on board has allowed us to map Mars's topography. Mars odyssey has discovered dark streaks which could be melting water, huge amounts of ice underground, and discovered that radiation at Mars is high, but acceptable. Mars Express carries an orbiter with GPR, which could discover ground water, and high resolution cameras and other instruments. Beagle 2, its lander, is a dedicated exobiology lab that could find life on Mars. Mars Exploration Rovers are two highly advanced rovers equippped to take very high resolution pictures, analyze thousands of rocks from a distance, take microscopic images of rocks, drill holes in them, and then use special spectrometers. Nozomi seems to be the outcast- launched in 1998 and finally due to arrive in Januray , when it will study the Martian upper atmosphere.
Personally I'm torn between Mars Express and MER. MER is probably the better one, in my opinion - I really like the
Athena instrumentation package. On the other hand, the Mars Express orbiter carries some great instruments, namely the radar and the camera, and Beagle 2 has a fair chance of discovering life.
What do you think?