A nine-strong science team has been selected by NASA to manage the Mars Microprobes, which will fly as piggyback payloads aboard the Mars '98 Polar Lander, pictured at Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, Colorado. The Microprobes, to be launched in January 1999, are flying as the Deep Space 2 mission in the New Millennium programme and will separate from the lander before it enters the atmosphere. Each Microprobe will search for water ice in the soil using a small drill to bring a soil sample inside the probe, heat it and look for water vapour.
Source: Flight International