NASA Selects Mars Mission Candidates

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The new class of robotic spacecraft, called Scouts, may enable scientists to explore the diversity of Mars in new and sometimes unique ways.

Among the ideas selected for further study are missions to scoop up samples of Martian dust and gas for return to Earth, a quartet of gliders that would cruise the planet's deepest canyon and a network of meteorological stations designed to spend years monitoring the weather on the surface of Mars.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials culled the list from 43 proposals received last month during a workshop. Each of the 10 finalists will receive up to $150,000 for six months of additional study.

The goal of the program is to fine-tune the proposals NASA expects to receive next year when it formally requests ideas for its first Scout mission. The $300 million mission would launch by 2007.

``These 10 mission concepts provide revolutionary new vantage points and tools for exploring,' said Jim Garvin, the lead scientist for NASA's Mars exploration program.

One of the proposals, KittyHawk, would dispatch four gliders to fly through the Vallis Marineris, a canyon with walls that stand six miles high in some parts. Scientists believe the canyon cuts through sediments built up over billions of years, but have been stumped by the difficulty of accessing its steep walls.

``We'd just glide down without power and image the walls from top to bottom,' Wendy Calvin of the University of Nevada-Reno said about her proposal.

The hallmark of each mission aims to tackle a specific target, sometimes with multiple instruments or robotic spacecraft.

``Having a bunch of landers improves your chances that you're going to make it,' said David Paige of the University of California at Los Angeles, whose Artemis proposal was among the 10.

The miniature landers, each with an even smaller rover, would search the planet's poles for water and organic materials. The mission would seek to answer many of the same questions as did 1999's failed Mars Polar Lander, but explore multiple locations in doing so.

The eight other finalists are:

-Sample Collection for Investigation of Mars, by Laurie Leshin of Arizona State University, Tempe. Collection of dust and gas samples that are returned to Earth.

-Urey, Jeff Plescia, U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Ariz. A surface rover that would determine the ages of geological materials and send the information to Earth.

-Mars Atmospheric Constellation Observatory, Robert Kursinski, University of Arizona, Tucson. A network of small satellites orbiting Mars to analyze the planet's atmosphere and weather.

-Mars Environmental Observer, Michael Janssen, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. An orbiter that would analyze the role of water, dust and ice in the atmosphere of Mars.

-Pascal, Robert Haberle, NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. A network of 24 weather stations on Mars' surface to monitor humidity, pressure and temperature for two years.

-Mars Scout Radar, Bruce Campbell, Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, Washington. A satellite equipped with a special radar would map the surface of Mars and probe beneath the surface for buried water channels.

-The Naiades, Bob Grimm, Blackhawk GeoServices, Golden, Colo. Four landers to explore for subsurface water using a low frequency sounder.

-CryoScout, Frank Carsey of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Using heated water jets to probe hundreds of feet beneath Mars' polar ice caps to determine the soil composition and search for organic compounds.

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