Leaks from within the agency suggest the next moves will be orbiters that aren't too different from NASA's original plans, and landers equipped with the space equivalent of an airliner's black box.

The review of NASA's Mars Surveyor Program has also placed greater attention on a side project that seems more important than ever before.

The Mars Micromission program has been discussed for a fair amount of time in the aerospace press, but hasn't achieved much attention outside it.

This program would create a series of small spacecraft with a mass of less than 200 kilograms, carried aloft as secondary payloads on large rockets.

Some of these would orbit Mars as communications relays and navigational beacons. Others could carry atmospheric probes or small landers.

The most high-profile Mars Micromission has been the long-discussed Mars Airplane. Although the design of such a vehicle has yet to be finalised, engineers have generally depicted such a vehicle as something akin to a model glider, elegantly unfolding itself like an emerging butterfly from the confines of its atmospheric entry capsule.

The whole concept of Mars Micromissions has much to recommend itself. It's the ultimate extrapolation of the "cheaper, faster, better" mantra that still exists, despite the loss of Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander.

It also lends itself to supporting unorthodox methods of space exploration that would be too risky for a larger probe, or unable to be carried out by one.

Think of the possibilities. Orbiters, landers, balloons, aircraft, or penetrators similar to the ill-fated Deep Space 2 mission. Just about everything that could be carried on a Mars Micromission has been suggested in the aerospace media. There's just one concept that doesn't seem to have attracted much attention: the Mars Smart Bomb!

During the earliest phases of NASA's review, all manner of rumours began to seep out. Most of these have since been discredited, but one under-reported event deserves more consideration.

A report on the CNN Web site suggested that at least one scientist participating in the review was interested in the concept of launching smart bombs at Mars.

This wouldn't be a way of keeping the US military occupied when Kosovo and Iraq are no longer being subjected to aerial raids, but a novel method of scientific exploration.

The idea takes its inspiration from the graphic video footage beamed back from cameras in the noses of these guided weapons, providing steadily more detailed imagery of the ground as they sped towards their targets.

Could a similar feat be achieved on Mars? Quite easily. It's been done in space before. During the earliest phases of lunar exploration, NASA's Ranger probes were launched on similar missions.

Click for part two of this report

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Satellite Launch To Boost DTH In India
Calcutta, India (SPX) Dec 28, 2005
The successful launch Thursday of India's heaviest satellite from spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana may have boosted the country's space research efforts to yet another level, but it has also lifted the spirits of at least three Direct-To-Home televisions broadcasters, one of which has been waiting for years to launch its services in India.