Mars Exploration Surveyors to Enable Human Exploration

Duo is a mission that surveys the atmospheric composition, geography, and potential resources on Mars before the end of 2033. Red Horizon, a team of 8 undergraduate students from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, created Duo in response to the 2024-2025 AIAA Undergraduate Team Space Design Competition request for proposal (RFP). Bronco is an orbiter that would survey no less than 95% of the Martian globe. Broncito is a balloon vehicle that would survey the atmosphere with direct measurements while also surveying Mars’s geography at 7 km altitude. Both spacecraft are equipped with scientific instruments to support the primary program goal of providing future mission planners with data for an eventual human Mars exploration campaign.