Scheduled for a 2011 launch the Mars probe, the spacecraft is delayed until 2013. NASA officials said that a conflict-of-interest became apparent from one of the two companies in competition for the mission.

The NASA board chosen to select from either a Colorado organization (University of Colorado at Boulder) or a Texas organization (Southwest Research Institute at San Antonio, Texas) had to be completely broken up and new members selected because of the conflict-of-interest within the purchasing/procurement portion of the selection process. (Note: Such an activity, in itself, seems to be a good indication where the conflict resides.)

Consequently, NASA had to delay the selection of the company to be awarded the contract. More specifics of the problem involving the purchasing and procurement process were not elaborated upon by NASA officials. (Note: Several persons involved with the project, and not associated with NASA, were concerned about the secrecy of the whole event. They said there was no need for secrecy because the specifics of the problem will come out eventually.)

The next deadline for proposals for the program in August 2008 and the selection of the organization will be in December 2008.

The two-year delay was not caused by this adminstrative snafu but because of science. The planetary alignment of Mars and Earth only allows for efficient and speedy launches from Earth to Mars every 26 months.

The NASA Mars Scout program consists of a series of small, relatively low cost missions to the planet Mars. The proposals selected by NASA come from various members of the scientific community.

The first mission (Scout 1) from the Mars Scout program was Phoenix, a lander that was launched on August 4, 2007, and is expected to land on the northern polar region of Mars on May 25, 2008. The Phoenix Mars Lander website is: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html

The second spacecraft (Scout 2) to Mars concerns this purchasing snafu. The Scout 2 and Scout 3 websites, respectively, are: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=Scout_02 and http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=Scout_03.

The NASA website involving Mars missions is found at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/main/index.html

The website concerning the proposing of mission for the Mars Exploration Program is contained at: http://mars-scout.larc.nasa.gov/.

{moscomment}

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