2nd Informational Circular for MEPAG Meeting 35

Members of the Mars community,

I cordially invite you to participate in the 35th meeting of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG), scheduled as a virtual meeting on Monday, September 25th, 2017, 10:00am-1:00pm PDT. The final agenda is in the 2nd page of the attachment, along with connection information; this information is also posted to the MEPAG meeting webpage.

The main topic at this meeting will be low-cost, “opportunistic” mission concepts, as such missions may provide a new way of advancing Mars science through observations within the Mars system. This meeting will inform the Mars community about recent work in this area through reports on the mission concepts selected for study under NASA’s Planetary Science Deep Space SmallSat Studies (PSDS3) program (https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-selects-cubesatsmallsat-mission-concept-studies). We will hear from the 5 teams selected with Mars System proposals:

  • PRISM: Phobos Regolith Ion Sample Mission, PI Michael Collier, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
  • Chariot to the Moons of Mars, PI David Minton, Purdue University (presented by Co-I Briony Horgan, Purdue University)
  • Aeolus – to study the thermal and wind environment of Mars, PI Anthony Colaprete, NASA Ames Research Center
  • MISEN: Mars Ion and Sputtering Escape Network, PI Robert Lillis, University of California Berkeley
  • MAT: Mars Aerosol Tracker, PI Luca Montabone, Space Science Institute

In addition, recent, ongoing, and potential near-term future MEPAG activities will be discussed. There will also be a presentation from the Mars Exploration Program Director Jim Watzin on the status of discussions about future Mars mission architecture, based on the August 28, 2017 presentation given by NASA SMD Associate Administrator Thomas Zurbuchen to the NASEM-convened Committee reviewing progress towards implementation of the 2013-2022 Planetary Science Decadal Survey (http://sites.nationalacademies.org/cs/groups/ssbsite/documents/webpage/ssb_181241.pdf).

The meeting is open to all members of the Mars science community including our international colleagues. I look forward to your participation.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jeffrey R. Johnson
MEPAG Chair

 If you have a suggestion for the agenda or a question about the meeting, please email [email protected].