Debra J. Rahn
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                                      
April 2, 1993
(Phone:  202/358-1639)


RELEASE:  93-62
 
NASA and The Russian Space Agency Sign Mars '94 Contract

   NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin and Russian Space Agency 
(RSA) Director Yuri Koptev today announced that they have signed a 
contract with a potential value of $1.5 Million to fly two U.S. 
Mars Oxident Experiment (MOX) instruments on the Russian Mars '94 
Mission.

   The Mars '94 Mission, to be launched in November 1994, will 
deploy small landing stations and penetrators and carry a 
complement of instruments to study the surface and atmosphere of 
the planet Mars.

   Under the contract, the Babakin Engineering Research Center, 
Moscow, and the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of 
Sciences, Moscow, will provide technical services for integrating 
and testing the U.S. MOX instruments.

   A duplicate MOX instrument will fly on each of the two Russian 
small stations.  These instruments will conduct soil 
reactivity/composition experiments to provide chemical information 
about the volatile components in the martian soil.  These 
experiments will enable scientists to characterize the martian 
physical and chemical surface environment.

   Subject to appropriation of funds in FY 94, NASA plans to 
exercise an option under the contract to procure an engineering 
model of the Mars '94 small station.  This will allow NASA to 
perform integration tests with the U.S.-supplied flight instrument 
systems in preparation for integration on the flight models with 
minimal impact to existing instrumentation.  The model also will 
improve nasa's understanding of lander technology for future mars 
missions.

   The implementing agreement on NASA's participation in the 
Russian Mars '94 Mission was signed by NASA and RSA on October 5, 
1992, in Moscow.  

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