COMPUTER GENERATED IMAGE OF MARS SPACEPLANE CONCEPT, 1999-02-05 (photo)

Computer image of a concept for a Mars Airplane which is slated to possibly fly in 2003 or 2005. If the project is carried out, it would be part of a brave new era of bargain space missions with a distinctly Buck Rogers flair. The Mars plane would unfold its wings and propeller as it drifts toward the martian surface by parachute after being released from a spacecraft. It would then cruise above the canyons, taking images that would bridge the gap between orbiting spacecraft, which look at large areas of the Red Planet with very low resolution, and landers, which look at very small areas with high resolution. HB/WS