Presentations from the sixth virtual meeting (VM6) of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) are now available online at:

https://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/meetings.cfm?expand=vm6

A request has been put forward from Wendy Calvin (University of Nevada-Reno) to members of the research community for input to a Planetary Protection Independent Review Board. Current Planetary Protection policies for Mars, including Special Regions, were a point of discussion at VM6. MEPAG /PPIRB is soliciting input regarding:

1) Planetary protection (PP) as currently implemented for Mars

2) Suggestions for how to improve PP for Mars

3) What we need to learn or study in order to update our understanding of Martian “Special Regions”

Please provide your name and affiliation along with your comment. Responses should be input on the Google doc:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe_3IZT-06_0SGE7fyMcBMKNUDxrA87WUfwcrPO3QFp2YCanA/viewform

Feedback is requested by Wednesday, Sept 4, 2019.

For more context of the discussion at VM6, Dave Beaty’s (MPO/JPL) presentation on this topic is available, along with all other VM6 presentations, at the meeting website:

https://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/meetings.cfm?expand=vm6