  In this paper we preliminarily explore the possibility of designing a
dedicated satellite-based mission to measure the general relativistic
gravitomagnetic Lense-Thirring effect in the gravitational field of Mars. The
focus is on the systematic error induced by the multipolar expansion of the
areopotential and on possible strategies to reduce it. It turns out that the
major sources of bias are the Mars'equatorial radius R and the even zonal
harmonics J_L, L = 2,4,6... of the areopotential. An optimal solution, in
principle, consists of using two probes at high-altitudes (a\approx 9500-9600
km) and different inclinations, and suitably combining their nodes in order to
entirely cancel out the bias due to \delta R. The remaining uncancelled
mismodelled terms due to \delta J_L, L = 2,4,6,... would induce a bias \lesssim
1%, according to the present-day MGS95J gravity model, over a wide range of
admissible values of the inclinations. The Lense-Thirring out-of-plane shifts
of the two probes would amount to about 10 cm yr^-1.
