MESUR

It was envisioned as a low-cost method of surveying Mars, with risk tolerance, since a loss of a spacecraft was not fatal to the program, because of multiple relatively cheap space probes.

[6] The entire program was projected at a cost of $1 billion US, with per annum spending restricted to $150 million US, starting in FY1994.

[7] The rovers and landers would have instruments and cameras to examine surface rocks, search for water, perform seismography, and observe meteorology.

[8] On 26 June 1992, NASA unveiled the prototype for Mars Sojourner, Rocky IV, on the 25th anniversary of the first US lunar lander.

After a 7-month voyage it landed on Ares Vallis, in a region called Chryse Planitia on Mars, on 4 July 1997.