2. THE DUST COLLECTOR
SCIM (Sample Collection for Investigation of Mars) would be the first craft to make a 1.75-billion-mile round-trip flight from Earth to Mars. Two round solar panels would power its instruments (left). After folding its panels, SCIM would enter the planet's atmosphere (below), pass through one of Mars' huge dust storms and gobble up some 1,000 cubic centimeters of dust, gas and other samples. Scientists drool over the prospect of working directly with such samples—the abil-ity to deliver them to Earth
is SCIM's chief advantage.
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