The Mars Sample Return 2003 mission was planned by NASA in collaboration with CNES (Centre National pour l'Exploration Spatiale), the French space agency and ASI (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana), the Italian space agency. The mission was to have returned for the first time samples  of the Martian soil for laboratory analysis.
The lander was to be built by NASA and was to have been provided with two different drilling systems: the first mounted on a robotic arm and called the Dee-Dri (Deep Driller) and the second mounted on the Athena rover. Athena  was to have carried other scientific instruments including three cameras, of which two were to be mounted on a 170 cm mast. The Athena drill system was to have delivered some ten rock samples.
The Italian built Dee-Dri was to have provided samples from a maximum depth of 50 cm (to be increased to 5 meters on following missions) in addition to two different kinds of scientific data:
The first kind could have been derived from engineering sensors, providing parameters such as required motor torque for drilling, drilling speed and terrain resistance, from which data could be derived on the terrain's specific energy, fracture load, elastic moduli, porosity and stratigraphic distribution of inclusions.
The second kind of data was to have been provided by small scientific instruments incorporated in the drill auger. These instruments were to have provided data on thermal soil characteristics, optical stratigraphy and radioactivity measurements.
On the lander platform, in addition to the Dee-Dri robotic arm, space was provided for a stereo camera, similar to the Mars Pathfinder one and for two envelopes of scientific instruments: IPSE (Italian Package for Science Experiment) e ASE (Additional Science Envelope). In the middle of the lander base was mounted the two or three stage solid fueled MAV (Mars Ascent Vehicle), able to take samples from the surface to Mars orbit.
IPSE was to have included instruments IRMA (InfraRed Microscope Analysis), a spectrometer/microscope able to analyze the infrared emissions of soil samples and MARE (Mars Radioactivity Experiment), to search for trace elements in the soil.
ASE was to include at least one instrument necessitating small quantities of soil, namely MOD (Mars Organic Detector). MOD was to have revealed the existence of complex organics such as aminoacids inside the rocks. The instrument was to have included a small soil crusher.

The landing site was to have been chosen based on life search requirements, and the probe was to have landed within 10 km of a site where liquid water was once on the surface.
Another constrain on the landing site choice was power generation. MSR was to have carried two 8-10 square meters solar panels. In order to maximize available power, the probe was to land near sub solar latitude, where the Sun is overhead at local noon.
For the 2003 opportunity, the sub solar latitude at arrival (mid december) was 16.5 degrees South, moving to 2.4 degrees North some three months later, when the mission was scheduled to end. For this reason, the proposed landing sites were to be betwwen 10 degrees of 5 degrees North.
For the 2005 opportunity, the sub solar latitude at arrival was 25 degrees North, i.e., the probe was to have landed at summer solstice.
Other landing constrains were posed by lander stability, as the probe is stable at tilt angles up to 15 degrees. However, a high lander tilt angle can reduce the power generation capability of the solar panels and create locomotion problems to the Athena rover.

During the atmospheric descent manoeuvre, the lander was to have collected pictures of the landing site to enable a better Athena rover navigation planning on the surface.
The first hours on the ground were to have been dedicated to high gain antenna and camera deploying. The landing was to have occurred a few hours before sunset.
Athena was to descend from the lander on the fifth day, after which all activities were to begin. During the first 90 days of the mission samples were to have been handed to the MAV up to a total mass of 1 kg. During that time, the Dee-Dri robotic arm was to hand other samples to scientific instruments for in situ analysis. This capability was not available to the Athena rover.
After 90 days on the surface, the MAV was to have been raised and launched. NASA did not require that the lander was able to survive the launch, but this was considered as possbile. Athena was then to continue its mission travelling up to 20 km from the lander.
The soil samples were to have entered Mars orbit where, two years later, were to have been joined by another MAV. Shortly after that, a French built probe was to have performed a rendez-vous with the sample cannister to transfer them to Earth.
This plan was completely overhauled after the Mars Polar Lander failure and a Mars Sample Return mission will now be launched no earlier than 2011.

Bibliography
Golombek, M., et al.: Preliminary Evaluation of Engineering Constraints of Mars Sample Return Landing Sites, 31st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference abstract, Houston, 13-17 March 2000 (available on-line)
Kminek, G., et al.: MOD-An In-Situ Organic Detector for the MSR 2003 Mission, 31st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference abstract, Houston, 13-17 March 2000 (available on-line)
Lena, R.: L'Italia sul Pianeta Rosso, available on-line (in Italian)
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Mars Sample Return Mission: 2003 Lander Additional Payload (AP) Proposal Information Package (availableon-line)
Ulivi, P.: Studio di Ottimizzazione ad Energia Minima per un Manipolatore per l'Esplorazione di Marte. Master Thesis, Politecnico di Milano, 2000

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