[X] My Assistant

[centsworth_II]

Third: locating possible trace-gas sources may be an important new data input at this point in picking where to make future landings (as well as MSL's data).

Yes! We need to pin down the elusive Martian methane!

[algorimancer]

...33-page description of the ASL in a recent issue of the Astrobiology journal....

Good. I see that EDL and rover are derived from MSL - no point in reinventing the wheel again.

[Eluchil]

The ASL is in competition with three other possible missions for the 2016 & 2018 slots, most of them landers. The ASL will probably get one of the slots, but if it's the 2018 one and the Mars Science Orbiter fliers in 2013 then the odds are such that it will probably NOT be the next lander after the MSL. (It may however be the next ROVER, since one rather doubts the twin mid-rover option will fly in 2016 if another rover, the ASL, is booked in for 2018.)

There are a lot of possibilities (even assuming that some discovery or policy change doesn't redirect or scuttle the program). Still my feeling is that there isn't enough money for 2 flagship class missions in the two slots. Indeed, I doubt that they can even fund one and launch MSR in 2020. Therefore, I expect the other opportunity to go to a Scout which is likely to be an orbiter. Or it may be skipped entirely to provide funds for sample return (though in recent years NASA has been loathe to completely skip a Mars launch opportunity). On the other hand, my supposition should not be mistaken for certainty and I would be esspecially happy to see a lander network concept fly since seismic monitoring is the best (only?) way to study the deep interior of the planet.

[nprev]

Heck, I'd be delighted just to see three fixed-site seismometers on the planet spaced 120 deg apart in longitude, combined with a camera & a methane-sniffer. I suspect that Mars is very quiescent because of its extremely thick crust, but think we need to do some quake monitoring to provide context for other observations (landslides, dark streaks, etc.)

Sounds like a Discovery-class effort, but I'm not sure if you could do it with one launch.