The basic concepts of Mars MetNet were initiated by the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) team in late 1980s. The concept was matured over a decade, and eventually the development work started in the year 2000.[3][4] MetNet can be considered as a successor of the NetLander, Russian Mars 96 and the earlier ESA Marsnet and InterMarsnet mission concepts.[5] Of these Mars 96 went all the way to launch, but failure on the trans-mars injection with fourth stage of the rocket caused it to re-enter Earth and break-up.