Contracts Awarded for Mars Ascent Vehicle Concept Studies

Posted by tourdemars to Sample Return at July 26, 2001 12:00 PM

NASA's Mars Technology Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Califfornia, has awarded three industry contracts for the development of concepts for a small rocket that will lift science samples gathered by NASA's Mars Sample Return mission from the Martian surface and support their return to Earth. A panel consisting of propulsion experts including NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and JPL selected these companies from the five that responded to the request for proposals. The awardees are: - Boeing Company, Huntington Beach, California - Lockheed Martin Corporation, Denver, Colorado - TRW, Redondo Beach, California