NASA Delays Mars Scout Selection

In an article on Space.com, staff writer Brian Berger discusses the delay in the selection of the next Mars Scout series of mission. NASA is delaying the selection by a few months so that they may address conflict of interest concerns that arose just before the final evaluation was to begin.

"In preparing for the evaluation of Mars Scout Concept Study Reports for the final selection, NASA identified an organizational conflict of interest. NASA determined action had to be taken to resolve the conflict in order to maintain a fair competition," NASA's Mars Exploration Program announced. "Among several actions deemed necessary to address the conflict, the most significant is that NASA will reconstitute the evaluation team with new members, thereby eliminating the organizational conflict of interest. In order to minimize the impact of the teams' proposed mission schedules, NASA will expedite the reconstitution and evaluation processes. However, this action will delay the evaluation and announcement of the selection of the next Mars Scout mission by a few months. The teams will be notified when the new schedule is final."

The Spokesman for NASA, Dwayne Brown declined to comment on what the conflict of interest was. NASA picked two finalists for the 2011 Mars Scout mission opportunity in January. Both finalists were Boulder-based institutions proposing to send an orbiter to Mars to study the evolution of its atmosphere. The Great Escape was one of the missions and was proposed by Alan Stern before NASA administrator Mike Griffin lured him away from his institution in April to run the Science Mission Directorate, which oversees a $5 billion portfolio that includes robotic Mars missions. The other mission, the Mars Atmosphere and Evolution Mission was proposed by Bruce Jakosky of UC Boulder. Over the next few months, the selection process will continue with a new set of members.