Ceres Polar Lander
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/PIA19562-Ceres-DwarfPlanet-Dawn-RC3-image19-20150506.jpg/220px-PIA19562-Ceres-DwarfPlanet-Dawn-RC3-image19-20150506.jpg)
Ceres Polar Lander (CPL) is a European mission concept for a lander to Ceres that would search for biosignatures.[1] Published in 2008, the concept calls for a low-cost mission using reliable existing technology to complement other larger missions.[2] The original concept of the mission was to search for water ice and signs of life in permanently shadowed craters near Ceres' north pole.[2] However, with new information from the Dawn mission, it is now thought that water ice can be found on other locations on Ceres and that Occator crater may be a more desirable scientific target.[3]
If funded and launched, it would take about four years to reach Ceres, assuming a launch by a Soyuz rocket.[1]
References
- ^ a b Pullen, Lee (16 April 2009). "New Lander Could Probe Dwarf Planet Ceres For Life". Space.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
- ^ a b Poncy, J; Grasset, Oliver; Martinot, V; Gabriel, Gabriel (September 2008). "Preliminary assessment of a Ceres Polar Lander mission". European Planetary Science Congress: 403. Bibcode:2008epsc.conf..403P.
- ^ Weitering, Hanneke (5 November 2018). "Now That Dawn Is History, Should NASA Send Another Mission to Ceres?". Space.com. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
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- Atmosphere
- Geology
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Craters |
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Montes |
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Other features |
![Image of Ceres by the Dawn spacecraft.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/PIA19547-Ceres-DwarfPlanet-Dawn-RC3-AnimationFrame25-20150504.jpg/125px-PIA19547-Ceres-DwarfPlanet-Dawn-RC3-AnimationFrame25-20150504.jpg)
Classification |
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Discovery |
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Possible trojans and co-orbitals |
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- Dawn mission
- Ceres Polar Lander (proposed)
- Calathus Mission (proposed)
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