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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