As we swing into the summer months, the Mars missions are progressing rapidly and energetically. Articles in this issue take you to the front lines of what happens between the design and planning stages of a mission and the actual assembly of a functioning, tested spacecraft.

A spacecraft is not a simple thing. Even the most basic requires months and years to grow from the germ of an idea into a concrete mission. There is flight software to develop, components to design and build, hundreds of different pieces to test and integrate, and then, finally, all the steps to prepare for launch.

Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Pathfinder are currently in the stage we call ATLO-assembly, test, and launch operations. Mars '98, featured in the last issue, is just beginning its journey. And several joint missions with our Russian counterparts are in preliminary negotiations, before they come to the beginning of their paths toward launch.

All this, however, is just the technical part of going to our neighboring terrestrial planet. Even more important is drive-the drive that I talk about in every issue, the drive that everyone working in Mars exploration at JPL talks about, the motivation that gets all this incredible work done. We want to communicate that feeling to you and hear your excitement coming back to us. To facilitate this interaction, we have set up a special e-mail account in our Education and Outreach Office, staffed by Dr. Cheick Diarra. Use it to tell us what you want to know about Mars and science subjects in general. Any and all questions about scientific concepts, space science, astronomy, and physics are welcome.

Please write to "mepeducat@jpl.nasa.gov" with your questions. Or write to any of us here by good old "snail mail!"

-David Dubov