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.