Abstract: China's first Mars exploration mission(HX-1)is expected to launch Orbiter and Rover in 2020 to conduct a global and comprehensive exploration of Mars,and to carry out regional patrolling on the Mars surface. The Ground Research and Application System(GRAS)is one of the five systems of engineering system of the Mars exploration mission,which is mainly responsible for the scientific exploration plan formulation,payload operation management,data receiving,processing,interpretation and management,and organizing the application and research of the scientific data. Based on the analysis of similar systems and the difficulties of Mars exploration ground systems,the main tasks,technical indicators and overall layout of GRAS,and the main functions,composition and design of the subsystems are introduced.