Members of the Mars community,
I cordially invite you to attend the 2014 face-to-face meeting of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG), scheduled for 1.5 days, May 13-14, 2014, at the Crystal City Marriott in the Washington, DC area.
There have been many developments in Mars exploration over the past year: Discoveries by Curiosity and other operating Mars missions, the release of the AO and the receipt of instrument proposals for the 2020 Mars Rover, the launches of NASA’s MAVEN and ISRO’s MOM missions to Mars, the implications for Mars and Planetary Science of the passage of the FY14 budget and release of the President’s proposed FY15 budget, and the developing vision of human exploration at Mars.
This meeting will report on the implications of these events as well as the overall status of Mars exploration. Further, there will be a report from the ongoing MEPAG Special Regions Science Analysis Group.
Thus, key discussion topics will include:
- Discussion of the status of Mars exploration by NASA and other space agencies
- Interaction with the Human program (HEOMD)
- Report from the MEPAG Special Regions SAG
- Report on NASA and ESA landing site selection activities
This meeting will be followed, in the same venue, by the First Landing Site Workshop for the 2020 Mars Rover mission (TBC).
The meeting is open to all members of the Mars science community and I welcome our international colleagues. We will also broadcast the meeting via Adobe Connect for those who cannot attend in person.
I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in Washington!
Sincerely,
Professor Lisa Pratt
MEPAG Chair