WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin brushed off any concerns involving its role in future Mars missions despite changes NASA officials will implement to cure the ills that plagued the program last year.

"Based on the concerns raised, there are people still really excited and dedicated to Mars exploration," Evan McCollum, spokesman for the nation’s biggest aerospace and defense company, told SPACE.com.

On Tuesday, NASA released a 57-page report written by the Mars Program Independent Assessment Team (MPIAT) which said a spate of Mars failures were the result of government and industry mismanagement, lack of adequate oversight and faulty checks and balances.

The two reports prompted NASA, among other things, not to fly the 2001 lander, built by Lockheed, saving the hardware for a later mission.

"In the conduct of space missions, you get only one strike, not three,'' said former Lockheed Martin executive Thomas Young, who chaired the MPIAT.

This move could be a blow to Lockheed, which has already started building the spacecraft for the 2001 mission.

Lockhheed’s McCollum downplayed the news.

Though he was not sure how this could affect the company’s financial outlook, he told SPACE.com that this development was no big surprise. "We had a sense of the direction they were heading," he said.

"I think there will be a better communication with more people bringing up problems and concerns," said Ed Weiler, the agency’s associate administrator for space science, regarding Lockheed's role in future missions.

In addition to the Mars missions, Lockheed had a number of setbacks in its space business last year, including several launch failures and the loss of a major spy satellite contract to rival Boeing.

In addition, Lockheed's major misfires in its financial projections eroded the company's stock value. Lockheed stock has fallen steadily from a high of $55 a share in the first quarter of 1998. Tuesday it closed at $18.75.