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Meeting Planning Services

***PLEASE NOTE: Participation in this workshop is by invitation only.***

First Announcement

Meeting Location and Dates

The Joint Workshop on Induced Special Regions will be held at the Universities Space Research Association’s Headquarters at 7178 Columbia Gateway Dr., Columbia, Maryland, November 29–December 1, 2017. 

A block of rooms have been reserved at Courtyard Columbia, located at 8910 Stanford Boulevard, Columbia, MD  21045-5805. Please contact Pauline Burgess before making reservations. 

NCTS number: 32197-18

Purpose and Scope

The outcome of this invitation-only workshop is to inform ongoing and future missions as to where there might be Special Regions, if a spacecraft can inadvertently create a Special Region, and what buffer zone should be considered in approaching a Special Region. Thorough discussions will be focused on three areas of Special Regions:  capabilities of Earth organisms, natural conditions on Mars, and how spacecraft could alter condition on Mars. 

The organizers suggest the following reading materials in preparation of this workshop:

  • A New Analysis of Mars 'Special Regions':  Findings of the Second MEPAG Special Regions Science Analysis Group (SR-SAG2), Astrobiology, Volume 14, Number 11, 2014
  • The Potential for the Off-Nominal Landing of an RTG-Powered Spacecraft on Mars to Induce an Artificial Special Region, Submitted to Astrobiology
  • Reports from workshops on planetary protection for human missions that address transport questions

Note: All electronic submission forms are part of the Meeting Portal, which requires users to set up a personal profile to access our electronic forms (setting up a profile is quick and easy, requiring only a few minutes of your time).