The Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey (ARES) was a proposal by NASA's Langley Research Center to build a robotic, rocket-powered airplane that would fly one mile above the surface of Mars,[1] in order to investigate the atmosphere, surface, and sub-surface of the planet.

[2][3][4] The ARES team, headed by Dr. Joel S. Levine,[5] sought to be selected and funded as a NASA Mars Scout Mission for a 2011 or 2013 launch window.

[9] ARES would have been able to measure the crustal magnetization, spatial variability, and field magnitude of Mars, as well as resolving the crustal magnetism source structure with a spatial resolution two orders of magnitude higher than the Mars Global Surveyor.

At the same time, ARES would have attempted to characterize the structure and dynamics of the Mars atmosphere's boundary layer, as well as its water-equivalent hydrogen abundance and ice burial depth over greatly improved spatial scales compared to past missions.

[10] ARES would transit to Mars via a cruise stage and enter the Martian atmosphere in a traditional aeroshell with heat shield.