Mars Science Goals, Objectives, Investigations, and Priorities: 2015 Version Final Document Available

Mars community members,

We are very pleased to announce that the “Mars Science Goals, Objectives, Investigations, and Priorities: 2015 Version” final document has been approved by MEPAG and is now posted on the MEPAG website: http://mepag.nasa.gov/reports.cfm?expand=science

In this revision (an update to the 2012 revision, posted in 2014), we have revised all four Goals’ chapters: Life, Climate, Geology, Preparation for Human Exploration. Some of these chapters have changed extensively in both structure and content – a summary of changes is outlined in the Preamble. Additionally, this document explicitly identifies the cross-cutting aspects that are not captured within the Four-Goal, tiered structure, recording them within the supplemental high-level summary spreadsheet (also posted on the MEPAG website) and in the re-written final chapter (previously known as Section V). These efforts have increased the consistency and comprehensiveness of the individual Goal chapters, as well the integrated perspective offered by the full document.

We thank the Goal Representatives for their service and energy in this undertaking, and thank all members of the community who provided comments and suggestions.

– Lisa Pratt, MEPAG Chair

– Vicky Hamilton, MEPAG Goals Committee Chair