While the vast majority of ESA’s funding for Mars exploration in the 2020s is planned to be invested in ExoMars and Mars Sample Return, there is an interest to assess the possibility of implementing a small mission to Mars in parallel with, or soon after, the completion of the MSR programme. A study was undertaken in the Concurrent Design Facility at ESA ESTEC to assess low-cost mission architectures for small satellite missions to Mars. Given strict programmatic constraints, the focus of the study was on a low-cost (<250MEuro Cost at Completion), short mission development schedule with a cost-driven spacecraft design and mission architecture. The study concluded that small, low-cost Mars missions are technically feasible for launch within the decade.

中文翻译：

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小型火星任务架构研究

虽然 ESA 在 2020 年代为火星探索提供的大部分资金计划投资于 ExoMars 和 Mars Sample Return，但有兴趣评估与完成或在完成后不久执行一次小型火星任务的可能性MSR 计划。在 ESA ESTEC 的并行设计设施中进行了一项研究，以评估用于火星小型卫星任务的低成本任务架构。鉴于严格的计划限制，该研究的重点是低成本（<250 欧元完成成本）、具有成本驱动的航天器设计和任务架构的短期任务开发计划。该研究得出的结论是，小型、低成本的火星任务在十年内发射在技术上是可行的。