Abstract
(English)
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Up to 2003, Mars will remain, for Europe, a non-explored planet. This situation will change with two European missions: Mars Express, in 2003 from the European Space Agency and NetLander in 2007from a European consortium lead by the French Space Agency (CNES) together with Germany, Belgium and Finland. The determination of the Interior structure of Mars will be one of the main objectives of the NetLander mission. Such spherical model, interdisplinary by definition, will be one of the main results of the mission. Together with the already spherical models of Earth, it will be a key para-meter for comparative studies in the formation and evolution of Earth and Mars. The first and major objective of MAGE will be to promote and develop multi-disciplinary research on the interpretation of present Mars data, modelling of the planet formation and of its thermal evolution, in order to prepare the scientific exploitation of mission. Specifically, we propose (1) to study the Thars is area, where 3 landers will land, in order to obtain a a priori model of the crustal and lithospheric structure; (2) to determine the experimental and theoretical geophysical parameters with respect to mineralogy and Temperature; (3) to comparatively study models of thermal evolution of Mars and Earth, with emphasis on the impact of convection styles on magnetic dynamo generation, volcanic activities and triggering or inhibition of plate tectonics; (4) to study the source and physics of geophysical signals such as crustal magnetic fields and tectonics. In addition, MAGE will prepare the European community to a future guest Investigator AO, which will be released around 2005 by the steering committee. It will select new investigators, especially young scientists, in order to maximize the science return during the proprietary period of the mission.
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