Ceres Polar Lander

Ceres Polar Lander (CPL) is a European mission concept for a lander to Ceres that would search for biosignatures.

[1] Published in 2008, the concept calls for a low-cost mission using reliable existing technology to complement other larger missions.

[2] The original concept of the mission was to search for water ice and signs of life in permanently shadowed craters near Ceres' north pole.

[2] However, with new information from the Dawn mission, it is now thought that water ice can be found on other locations on Ceres and that Occator crater may be a more desirable scientific target.

[1] This article about one or more spacecraft of a European multinational organisation is a stub.