PLANET-B: Mars mission with small spacecraft but potentially with large science reward

Abstract

PLANET-B is the Japanese Mars project and the launch is scheduled for August,1998 with the funding started in 1992. The primary science mission of PLANET-B is to study Martian upper atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind. The total spacecraft weight is 536kg with the propellant 278kg. The dry weight excluding the propellant hardware is 186kg, and we are trying to fulfill major scientific achievements taking advantage of the state of the art in advanced technologies.This paper presents the overall feature of the Planet-B project with an emphasis on the engineering aspect.