Terrestrial Planets Comparative Climatology (TPCC) mission concept

Abstract

The authors and co-signers of the Terrestrial Planets Comparative Climatology (TPCC) mission concept white paper advocate that planetary science in the next decade would greatly benefit from comparatively studying the fundamental behavior of the atmospheres of Venus and Mars, contemporaneously and with the same instrumentation, to capture atmospheric response to the same solar forcing, and with a minimum of instrument-related variability. Thus, this white paper was created for the 2023-2032 Planetary Science Decadal Survey process. It describes the science rationale for such a mission, and a mission concept that could achieve such a mission.