MVACS, the Mars Volatiles and Climate Surveyor is an integrated suite of instruments flying aboard NASA's Mars Polar Lander. The MVACS instruments will focus on searching for water (vapor or ground ice) and understanding how it behaves. Water plays a pivotal role in Mars' weather and climate. The study of water on Mars is the central theme for this and future NASA missions to Mars because of its necessity for life, its role in climate, and its value as a resource for future human exploration. The Mars Polar Lander will be exploring the south polar region, an unexplored area well suited for studies of Mars' water and climate.

MVACS is comprised of five instruments:

• The Meteorological Package (MET)
  Collects information about atmospheric temperature, pressure, humidity, wind speed and direction, as well as atmospheric oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions and sub-surface soil temperatures.

• The Surface Stereo Imager (SSI)
  Acquires multi-color images and panoramas of the surrounding region, some in 3-D.

• The Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA)
  Determines the concentrations of water, carbon dioxide, and water-bearing minerals in the Martian soil, as well as the isotopic compositions of the carbon and oxygen in those materials.

• The Robotic Arm (RA)
  Digs trenches, collects soil samples, and moves them to the TEGA.

• The Robotic Arm Camera (RAC)
  Images the walls of the trenches and the soil samples collected in the scoop of the RA.

More about MVACS:

• MVACS Fact Sheet - A quick glance at MVACS
• Frequenltly Asked Questions - The answer to your question may be here
• Science Goals - Where we're going, why we're going, and what we intend to learn
• The Landing Site - learn more about where the lander will touch down
• The Mars Polar Lander Timeline - The story of the lander, from the initial idea through the end of the mission

The payload was built by an international team of scientists and engineers led by the Universtity of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and includes the California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the University of Arizona (UA), the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy (MPAe) in Germany, and the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark.