Network science, NetLander: a european mission to study the planet Mars

The planet Mars has many Earth like characteristics, but its evolution is different. An important future step in Mars’ geophysics is to deploy a network of stations at the surface of Mars inorder to study a wide range of properties of this planet, going from its deep interior structure to its atmosphere. Each ground station (small landers) will contain the same scientific instruments/experiments. The collected data will improve our knowledge of the Martian interior, surface and atmosphere, as well as its evolution. An important part of these objectives can only be achieved by a network of surface stations, as a network gives unique possibilities for performing studies of global scale phenomena and studies requiring simultaneous measurements from several sites.