NASA’s Mars Technology Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Califfornia, has awarded three industry contracts for the development of concepts for a small rocket that will lift science samples gathered by NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission from the Martian surface and support their return to Earth. A panel consisting of propulsion experts including NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and JPL selected these companies from the five that responded to the request for proposals. The awardees are: – Boeing Company, Huntington Beach, California – Lockheed Martin Corporation, Denver, Colorado – TRW, Redondo Beach, California