The increasing number of discoveries of earth-like exoplanets raise questions about the habitability of these planets. The aim of this session is to discuss on a general level the potential for the origin and development of life on a terrestrial planetary body from sub-Earth to super-Earth sizes. We are interested in the conditions that would be necessary to exist for a planet to be habitable and for the extent to which life would factor in the evolution of the atmosphere and the interior of a terrestrial planet.

We invite contributions of relevance to the topic from all fields of planetary science including e.g., formation of planetary bodies in the habitable zone, interiors of super-Earth planets, convection in the interior and plate tectonics and magnetic field generation, impacts and planetary evolution, geological evidence on Martian habitability, atmosphere models of exoplanets and terrestrial planets, biogeochemical interactions, extremophiles and their survival on Mars, mission concepts for exploration of planetary habitability.

Invited speakers: H. Rauer and N. Mangold