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Additional Experiments Selected For Mars 2001 Missions

Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington, DC                      January 22, 1998
(Phone:  202/358-1979)

Douglas Isbell
Headquarters, Washington, DC
(Phone:  202/358-1753)


RELEASE:  98-13

ADDITIONAL EXPERIMENTS SELECTED FOR MARS 2001 MISSIONS 

     NASA has selected additional instruments for the Mars 
Surveyor 2001 missions, which will study Mars' environment.

     The Mars Surveyor 2001 missions will follow two other robotic 
Mars missions to be launched in late 1998 and early 1999.  All are 
part of NASA's long-term, systematic exploration of Mars in which 
two missions are launched to the planet approximately every 26 
months.

     "In a sense, these missions allow virtual presence by humans 
and provide precursor data and subsequent infrastructure for 
possible human missions in the 21st century," said Arnauld 
Nicogossian, Associate Administrator of NASA's Office of Life and 
Microgravity Sciences and Applications.  "By adding capability to 
missions already planned, this near term effort will result in 
cost effective, tangible progress in carrying out the Human 
Exploration and Development of Space strategy and contribute to 
the Origins program of NASA's Office of Space Science."

     NASA's Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and 
Applications has selected the following investigations for the 
Mars 2001 Orbiter, due for launch in March of that year, and the 
Mars 2001 Lander/Rover, due for launch in April 2001:

     * The Martian Radiation Environment Experiment will 
characterize the radiation environment in the orbit and on the 
surface of Mars simultaneously.  This experiment will consist of 
radiation spectrometers on both the Mars 2001 Orbiter and on the 
Mars 2001 Lander.  Dr. Guatam Badhwar from NASA's Johnson Space 
Center, Houston, TX, is the principal investigator.

     * The Mars Environmental Compatibility Assessment will 
characterize Martian dust and soil to identify potential 
undesirable and harmful interactions with human explorers and 
associated hardware, and to evaluate properties of the soil 
related to its use as a construction material.  Dr. Thomas Meloy 
from West Virginia State University is the principal investigator.

     A team consisting of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), 
Pasadena, CA, and Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, CO, will 
develop the missions, led by JPL. 

     The radiation and dust investigations were selected from 39 
proposals submitted to NASA in August 1997.  

     Both of the 2001 missions are part of an ongoing NASA series 
of robotic Mars exploration spacecraft that began with the 
launches of the Mars Global Surveyor in November 1996.  The 2001 
missions represent the first step in a NASA initiative to 
integrate the requirements for Space Science and the Human 
Exploration and Development of Space program into a single robotic 
exploration program.

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