Robotic explorers could pave the way for future human missions to Mars, with a proposed European Space Agency mission—M-MATISSE—positioned as a potential precursor to crewed landings on the Red Planet. The mission, presented at the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting 2025 in Durham, aims to deploy two identical orbiters to investigate the complex space weather environment surrounding Mars.
M-MATISSE, short for Mars Magnetosphere ATmosphere Ionosphere and Space-weather SciencE, would be the first mission dedicated solely to characterising planetary space weather at Mars. Its findings could be instrumental in preparing for human exploration by identifying and forecasting hazards such as solar radiation and charged particle storms, which could pose risks to astronauts and equipment on the Martian surface.
The mission design includes two spacecraft—Henri and Marguerite—operating in complementary orbits. Henri would collect data from within the Martian plasma system, while Marguerite would observe from the solar wind and far-tail regions. This configuration would enable simultaneous observations of how solar energy and particles interact with the Martian atmosphere and magnetic environment across a wide spatial range.
Researchers involved in M-MATISSE argue that understanding how the Martian atmosphere responds to solar inputs is essential for designing protective systems for future crewed missions. The mission would investigate the entire chain of processes affecting space weather at Mars, from upper atmospheric interactions down to the planet’s surface.
If approved, M-MATISSE would also study long-term atmospheric loss, radiation exposure, and surface-level environmental changes, contributing to broader assessments of Mars’s past and present habitability.
Led by a consortium including the University of Leicester, the UK is contributing both scientific leadership and instrumentation to the mission. The UK team is responsible for a particle instrument suite intended to provide detailed measurements of neutral and charged particles at Mars, as well as for the mission’s Science Centre, which would oversee scientific planning and data coordination with ESA.
M-MATISSE is one of three candidates for ESA’s next medium-class mission slot, with a final decision expected in 2026. If selected, it would follow previous ESA missions such as Solar Orbiter and Euclid and support long-term strategic planning for Mars exploration, including eventual human landings.
Photo credit M-MATISSE team
