Posted by tourdemars to Scout Missions at December 6, 2002 12:00 PM

NASA has selected a proposal for a mission that would collect samples of martian atmospheric dust as one of four finalists for the first Mars Scout mission. The proposal, directed by Arizona State University geologist and cosmochemist Laurie Leshin, will receive a $500,000 grant to complete its development prior to the agency’s final selection process, which will begin next summer. The Mars Scout Program plans to mount at least one (and perhaps several) Scout missions to Mars beginning in 2007, with budgets of up to $300 million per mission. Leshin’s proposal is called "Sample Collection for Investigation of Mars” (SCIM), and involves a mission that would do a hit-and-run with the dusty Martian atmosphere. The proposed mission would perform the first return of a Martian sample at less cost, lower risk and in a shorter time frame than the far more complicated missions that will eventually be launched to collect samples from the planet's surface.