  In this paper, we assess the scientific promise and technology feasibility of
distributed instruments for planetary science. A distributed instrument is an
instrument designed to collect spatially and temporally correlated data from
multiple networked, geographically distributed point sensors. Distributed
instruments are ubiquitous in Earth science, where they are routinely employed
for weather and climate science, seismic studies and resource prospecting, and
detection of industrial emissions. However, to date, their adoption in
planetary surface science has been minimal. It is natural to ask whether this
lack of adoption is driven by low potential to address high-priority questions
in planetary science; immature technology; or both. To address this question,
we survey high-priority planetary science questions that are uniquely
well-suited to distributed instruments. We identify four areas of research
where distributed instruments hold promise to unlock answers that are largely
inaccessible to monolithic sensors, namely, weather and climate studies of
Mars; localization of seismic events on rocky and icy bodies; localization of
trace gas emissions, primarily on Mars; and magnetometry studies of internal
composition. Next, we survey enabling technologies for distributed sensors and
assess their maturity. We identify sensor placement (including descent and
landing on planetary surfaces), power, and instrument autonomy as three key
areas requiring further investment to enable future distributed instruments.
Overall, this work shows that distributed instruments hold great promise for
planetary science, and paves the way for follow-on studies of future
distributed instruments for Solar System in-situ science.
