1st Information Circular: 31st MEPAG Meeting, March 2-3, 2016 in Washington DC

1st Information Circular
31st MEPAG Meeting
March 2-3, 2016
Washington, DC

Letter of Invitation

Members of the Mars community,

I cordially invite you to attend the 2016 face-to-face meeting of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG), scheduled for 1.5 days, March 2-3, 2016, in Silver Spring, MD.

There have been many developments in Mars exploration since the 2015 MEPAG meeting:  Discoveries by Curiosity and other operating Mars missions, hydrated salts in RSL, a second landing site selection workshop for Mars 2020, and the first landing site workshop for human missions to Mars, as well as a Human Science Objectives SAG (HSO-SAG), an HEOMD ISRU & Civil Engineering (ICE) Working Group, and a Next Orbiter SAG (NEX-SAG).

This meeting will report on the implications of these events as well as the overall status of Mars exploration, and we will also handle some organizational matters for MEPAG (e.g., Chair and Executive Committee succession).

Thus, key discussion topics will include:

  • Overview of latest science results (Curiosity, MAVEN, etc.)
  • Status of Mars exploration by NASA and other space agencies
  • Interaction with the Human program (HEOMD)
    • Status of Humans to Mars (the Evolvable Mars Campaign) within NASA
    • First Landing Site/Exploration Zone Workshop for Humans Missions to the Surface of Mars
  • HSO-SAG, NEX-SAG and ICE-WG reports
  • NASA and ESA landing site selection activities
  • Preview of upcoming missions (ExoMars-TGO, InSIGHT)

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

Directions for participating remotely will be provided in a later announcement.

Basic Logistics

  • Date:    Wednesday, March 2nd – 8:30 AM until 5:30 PM.
    Thursday, March 3rd – 8:00 AM until 12:30 PM.
  • Location: Silver Spring, MD (Specifics TBD)
  • Hotel Reservation Information: A reserved block of rooms is being negotiated, more information will be sent out once that is finalized.
  • Meeting RSVP: So that we can plan the meeting logistics (e.g., seating, morning and afternoon refreshments, name badges, handouts, etc.), we request that all participants planning to attend in-person to RSVP by February 10th, 2016 to Meredith Cosby ([email protected]).  Please note that an RSVP is not required to attend the meeting, but is strongly encouraged as it will assist us in our planning.

If you need additional information, please contact Lindsay Hays, MEPAG meeting coordinator ([email protected], phone 818-354-6180). If you have updates to the master MEPAG e-mail list (correction of faulty email addresses, addition of Mars science colleagues who have been inadvertently omitted, or deleted) please contact [email protected].