To Members of the Mars Exploration Community,

One of the major presentations at the MEPAG meeting next week will be the draft analysis prepared by the Special Regions SAG.  This committee has been working for approximately the last 5 months to update our technical understanding of when and where planetary protection special regions might occur on Mars.  The SAG has produced a draft report for community review, discussion, and feedback.  A set of PPT-formatted files summarizing their preliminary findings has now been posted on the MEPAG website at the following location: http://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/meetings.cfm?expand=m29 .  The SAG committee would welcome any feedback on this interim material before it proceeds to preparation of a text-formatted final report.

Dave Beaty