NASAs decision to send a relative of the now-famous 1997 Mars Pathfinder rover on its 2003 Mars mission will result in layoffs at Lockheed Martins Space Systems division, company officials said Thursday.

"Its a reduced workforce we are looking at," said Noel Hinners, vice president of flight systems for Lockheed Martin Space Systems.

An orbiter-type mission at its peak would have amounted to about 150 people, but the layoffs are not likely to be that high, Hinners said.

"Lockheed is continuing to make proposals on a number of NASA Discovery class missions," he said. "We are committed to staying in the planetary program."

The contract to build the 2003 mission spacecraft -- the rover -- now goes to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

The defense and aerospace giant was pegged to build the alternative orbiter spacecraft for the 2003 mission which featured a camera capable of imaging objects as small as about 2 feet (60 centimeters) across and an imaging spectrometer designed to search for mineralogical evidence of the role of ancient water in Martian history.

But NASA officials decided to go with a Mars rover after studying which option to go with since March.

"Today I am announcing that we have selected the Mars Exploration Program Rover rather than the orbiter option, which was an extremely difficult decision to make," said Edward Weiler, associate administrator, Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Teams at JPL in Pasadena, California and Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, Colorado conducted separate, intensive studies of the missions.

In addition to the Mars mission, 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. Also, an orbiter and lander -- both built by Lockheed -- were lost at Mars last year and some pointed the finger at the builder.

Lockheed's major misfires in its financial projections also eroded the company's stock value. Lockheed stock has fallen steadily from a high of $55 a share in the first quarter of 1998. Thursday it closed at $27.19, down 31 cents.

"Its just another problem they have to face," said analyst Paul Nisbet at JSA Research in Newport, Rhode Island.

But because the Space Systems division is such a small part of the revenue stream for the aerospace giant, the news will not impact the companys bottom line.

Nisbet projects Lockheeds earnings per share this year to be at about $1.05. In 2001, it should reach about $1.20 to $1.25 per share, he said.