Sailing the planets: planetary science from guided balloons

We present a new concept for a future (10-40 years from now) planetary exploration architecture. At the core of the architecture are the Directed Aerial Robot Explorer (DARE) platforms, which are autonomous balloons with path guidance capabilities that can carry heavy scientific payloads and deploy swarms of miniature robotic probes over multiple target areas. This architecture enables a multitude of observations that are impossible or too expensive to make in any other way. The architecture enables surface imaging, in situ sampling of the atmosphere and surfaces, radar soundings, magnetic and gravity surveys and other observations at an unprecedented resolution. We present an overview of the concept in the context of Mars exploration.