Preparation for the Planetary Decadal Survey: The 2018 MEPAG Goals
Document and Plans for 2019 Updates
Abstract
Since 2001, the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) has
maintained a document outlining community consensus priorities for
scientific goals, objectives, and investigations for the robotic and
human exploration of Mars [1]. This “Goals Document” is a living
document that is revised regularly (~every few years) in
light of new Mars science results. It is organized into a hierarchy of
goals, objectives, and investigations. The four Goals are not
prioritized and are organized around major areas of scientific
knowledge: “Life”, “Climate”, “Geology”, and “Preparation for
Human Exploration”. Don Banfield is the current MEPAG Goals Committee
Chair, and he oversees 2-3 representatives per Goal [2]. The most
recent round of revisions (2018) was prompted by discussion at the 6th
International Mars Polar Science and Exploration Conference (held in
2016 in Reykjavik, Iceland [3]), which pointed out that current
high-priority Polar Science and Present-Day Activity questions were not
well represented in content or priorities within the 2015 Goals
Document. Upon request from the MEPAG Executive and Goals Committees
[2], specific areas of disconnect were highlighted by
representatives of the Mars Polar Science community; these were
evaluated by the Goals Committee who proposed changes at sub-objective
and investigation levels within the Climate and Geology Goals. These
proposed changes were open for comment by the larger Mars community for
6 weeks, and then finalized. The official MEPAG 2018 Goals Document will
be presented at the meeting. Additionally, the presentation will
describe plans for the next round of revisions, which are expected to
primarily come out of the presentations and discussion at the 9th
International Conference on Mars (to be held at Caltech, Pasadena, CA in
July 2019 [4]), and which are expected to include reference to
returned sample science. The 2019 MEPAG Goals Document will form an
important input to the next Planetary Science Decadal Survey [5].
[1] https://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/reports.cfm?expand=science [2]
https://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/about.cfm [3]
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/marspolar2016/ [4]
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/ninthmars2019/ [5] NASEM, 2017.
CAPS: Getting Ready for the Next Planetary Science Decadal Survey.
https://doi.org/10.17226/24843.