Design and Feasibility of the Mars Atmospheric & Ground Probe Instrumentation Experiment (MAGPIE)
Liam Piper
Independent Mission Design Lead, MAGPIE Project. AIAA Member Number: 1601426.
Independent Researcher, Norwich, CT, 06360
Abstract
The Mars Atmospheric & Ground Probe Instrumentation Experiment (MAGPIE) is a distributed lander mission concept deploying six autonomous microprobes from a dedicated relay orbiter to obtain time-synchronous meteorological, electrical, and visual measurements across a pole-to-pole latitude range on Mars. The mission architecture assumes a 276 day heliocentric transfer prior to Mars Orbit Insertion, followed by sequential probe releases timed to low-altitude orbital passes. After landing, each mid-latitude probe is designed for a 28 sol operational window, while polar deployments are expected to operate for at least 32 hours under low-insolation conditions.
Each 23 kg probe utilizes a 1 m, 70\( ^\circ \) sphere–cone aeroshell, drogue and main parachutes, and an aluminum-honeycomb crush-core system tuned to absorb \( > 90\% \) of terminal kinetic energy. High-fidelity entry–descent–landing simulations predict peak decelerations of 10–12 g and terminal velocities of 12–15 m/s, remaining within structural and thermal limits across representative dispersions. The orbiter employs dual-frequency UHF/LoRa relay links and an X-band DSN downlink, supported by a redundant ADCS architecture with RW250-class wheels, tertiary wheels, dual star trackers, coarse sun sensors, and a computer-vision star-tracking mode.
End-to-end trajectory and propulsion modeling indicates that a Falcon-9-class launch vehicle can deliver the 7.5 t integrated stack onto a \( C_3 = 9.879 \text{ km}^2/\text{s}^2 \) departure with sufficient margin for the distributed \( \Delta v_{\text{MOI}} = 1.49 \text{ km/s} \) insertion sequence. A 700-hour landed thermal–power simulation suggests sustained, power-positive operation at mid-latitudes under moderate dust loading (\( \tau = 0.4 \)), with all critical nodes maintained above survival thresholds.
Overall, MAGPIE outlines a feasible framework for obtaining time-synchronous, multi-latitude measurements of Martian boundary-layer meteorology and atmospheric electrification, providing data that can refine environmental models and help guide the design of future robotic and human surface systems.