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Question
Would dust get into the upper atmosphere on Mars, such that it could be sampled by some sort of a fly by?
Yes, a spacecraft could be built to sample gas and small dust particles from the upper atmosphere of Mars and then return these samples to Earth. I am not convinced that this mission would be a high priority scientifically, however. Neither the dust nor the gas at high altitude is characteristic of conditions near the surface, due to the high flux of UV radiation. We can learn much more studying the whole Mars rocks that have come to the Earth as meteorites than we would from tiny dust particles collected in the upper atmosphere. David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist
February 14, 2008
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