Journey To Mars | Planetary Resources | Facts | MEP | Why Mars? | Donations

MEP

NASA’s Mars Exploration Program is a science-driven, technology-enabled study of Mars as a planetary system in order to understand:

  • he formation and early evolution of Mars as a planet.
  • the history of geological and climate processes that have shaped Mars through time
  • the potential for Mars to have hosted life (its “biological potential”)
  • the future exploration of Mars by humans, and how Mars compares to and contrasts with Earth.

    • MEP’s programmatic goals are directly responsive to the Agency’s 2014 Strategic Plan. They include:

  • maintaining a continuous scientific presence at Mars
  • providing continuing improvements in technical capabilities of robotic Mars missions
  • capitalizing on measurement opportunities that contribute to the advancement of knowledge required for future human exploration of Mars, in collaboration with the Human Exploration and Operation Mission Directorate (HEOMD) and the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD)
  • ensuring that scientific measurements that can enable human exploration of Mars are considered for flight, and that opportunities to fly instruments-of-opportunity and technology demonstrations from HEOMD and STMD are exercised on a mutually agreed upon basis
  • supporting communications activities required for the successful conduct of MEP’s core science mission and NASA’s goals for helping to develop scientific literacy in the nation

    • MEP efforts also respond directly to NASA’s 2014 Science Plan. MEP derives its science goals from interactions with the planetary and Mars science community (e.g., through the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group, or MEPAG). MEP has an evolving science strategy, with related MEP Science Goals that are consistent with the priorities in the 2011 Solar System Decadal Survey Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022, conducted by the National Academy of Science’s National Research Council (NRC). These goals are formed into specific requirements and, as appropriate, applied to the individual missions in Program-level project requirements.

Home