The first component of the programme prepares a geographical assessment of plausible regions for analogue science in Europe and the neighbouring Arctic (Greenland, Iceland and Siberia). A special task force shall pursue location scouting with the help of Earth observation imagery and in-situ data as well as other relevant information.

The initial step of the scouting component features the establishment of an extensive requirements catalogue for Mars- analogue landscapes. The classification shall follow terrain properties (composition of soil and rock, soil moisture, surface texture, vegetation cover, terrain inclination and exposition), atmospheric and meteorological parameters (temperature, precipitation, moisture content of the atmosphere, evaporation, wind, sunshine duration) and other biological, topographical or logistical features (available transport logistics and infrastructure, special formations, communication). After a multilevel selection procedure, two to three locations especially suitable to the PolAres programme shall be selected and assessed by a scouting team on-site.

Output of the remote sensing component shall be a list of European and Arctic analogue sites considering various requirement profiles for martian landscapes. This publication is independent from the succeeding components and forms in itself a valuable product at the service of future analogue science.