A--NOTICE OF INTENT TO RELEASE A SOLICITATION FOR NASA MARS SCOUT INVESTIGATIONS

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Office of Space Science (OSS) intends to release a Mars Scout Announcement of Opportunity (AO) in April 2002 to solicit proposals for space flight science investigations through the new NASA Mars Scout project; proposals in response to this AO will be due 90 days after its formal release. Mars Scout investigations may include remote observations from Mars-orbiting spacecraft; missions that deploy aerial or landed systems to study the Martian atmosphere, surface, interior, geo-potential fields, and/or deep subsurface; and sample return missions. Mars Scouts are intended to augment and/or complement and not duplicate the major, strategic Mars missions being planned as part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program (MEP) or by other non-U.S. organizations. Participation in this intended AO will be open to all categories of organizations, foreign and domestic, including educational institutions, industry, nonprofit organizations, NASA Centers (see next paragraph), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and other Government agencies. An expanded version of this Notice of Intent will be available at the Web site http://centauri.larc.nasa.gov/mars/ until the date of release of the AO. Note that this Mars Scout AO may contain provisions that differ from this Notice, in which case those in the AO will take precedence. Questions or comments about this intention to release a Mars Scout AO may be addressed to the NASA Lead Scientist for Mars Exploration: Dr. Jim Garvin, Ref.: Mars Scout - 2002, Solar System Exploration Division, Code SE, Office of Space Science, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC 20546-0001; Facsimile: (202) 358-3098; E-mail: jgarvin@hq.nasa.gov; Telephone: (202) 358-1798.