MELOS

MELOS is the name of a proposed Japanese mission to Mars. It started as a combined orbiter and lander mission called Mars Explorations with Landers and Orbiters, however, by the mid-2010s this had been scaled back to a rover, and possibly an aircraft.

Mars Exploration and Life-Organism Search

By the mid-2010s MELOS was re-titled and scaled back to focus on surface operations. The idea was to deploy a small rover using skycrane, however it had some extra features like possible attached daughter rover for accessing hard to reach places.. Also, a Mars aircraft was also considered for the design..

First MELOS (Mars Explorations with Landers and Orbiters

MELOS ("Mars Exploration with a Lander-Orbiter Synergy") is a proposed Japanese planetary exploration mission under assessment and consideration, that would investigate the evolution of Martian atmosphere, the water and climate of Mars.

Overview

The mission's objective is to increase understanding on the composition of the interior and surface of Mars, as well as its atmosphere and surrounding space.