Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington        June 11, 2002
(Phone: 202/358-1726)

George H. Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
(Phone: 321/867-2468)

RELEASE: c02-O

ATLAS III CHOSEN TO LAUNCH MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER

     NASA has chosen the Atlas III expendable vehicle offered 
in a competitive bid by Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch 
Services, Inc. for the launch of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance 
Orbiter scheduled to occur in 2005. Lockheed Martin 
Commercial Launch Services is a division of International 
Launch Services of McLean, Va. 

This is a firm fixed-price task order awarded under the terms 
of the current NASA Launch Services contract for 
intermediate-class launch services for which Lockheed Martin 
Commercial Launch Services is one of two selected providers.

The prime contractor for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter 
spacecraft is Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, Colo., 
which is responsible for spacecraft design, integration of 
the science instruments and the support of mission 
operations. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission is 
managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory which is a 
division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 
Calif.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft will weigh 
approximately 4,355 pounds (1,975 kg) and have a 200 by 155 
mile-high (250 by 320 km) polar orbit around Mars. The 
spacecraft's instruments provide significant improvements in 
resolution and data volume over previous missions and are 
being developed by both U.S. and foreign investigator teams. 
The spacecraft also provides telecommunications and 
navigation support for future Mars missions. There is a 21-
day planetary launch period for the Mars Reconnaissance 
Orbiter that extends from August 8 to August 28, 2005.

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