This session aims to inform the geoscientists and engineers regarding new and/or improved instrumentation and methods for space and planetary exploration, as well as about their novel or established applications.
The session is open to all branches of planetary and space measurement tools and techniques, including, but not limited to: optical, electromagnetic, seismic, acoustic, particles, and gravity.
Please, kindly take contact with the conveners if you have a topic that may be suitable for a review talk.
This session is also intended as an open forum, where discussion between representatives of different fields within planetary, space and geosciences will be strongly encouraged, looking for a fruitful mutual exchange and cross fertilization between scientific areas.

This session aims at presenting highlights of relevant recent results regarding the exploration and sustainable utilization of the Moon through observations, modelling, laboratory and theory - although the main focus of the session is on instrumentation and modelling approaches. Key research questions concerning the lunar surface, subsurface, interior and their evolution will be discussed. More in detail, the topics of interest for this session include:
-Recent lunar results: geochemistry, geophysics in the context of open planetary science and exploration
-Synthesis of results from Clementine, Prospector, SMART-1, Kaguya, Chang’e 1, 2 and 3, Chandrayaan-1, LCROSS, LADEE, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Artemis and GRAIL
- First results from Chang'E 4, Chandrayaan2, Chang’E5, Commercial Lunar Payload
- Goals and Status of missions under preparation: orbiters, Luna25-27, SLIM, GLXP legacy, LRP, commercial landers, Future landers, Lunar sample return missions
- Precursor missions, instruments and investigations for landers, rovers, sample return, and human cis-lunar activities and human lunar surface sorties
- Preparation for International Lunar Decade: databases, instruments, missions, terrestrial field campaigns, In-Situ Resources, ISRU, support studies
- ILEWG and Global Exploration roadmaps towards a global robotic/human Moon village

Note that this session is open to all branches of lunar science and exploration, and is intended as an open forum and discussion between diverse experts and Earth geoscientists and explorers at large. The session will include invited and contributed talks as well as a panel discussion and interactive posters with short oral introduction.

Space-based measurements of the Earth System, including its atmosphere, oceans, land surface, cryosphere, biosphere, and interior, require extensive prelaunch and post launch calibration and validation activities to ensure scientific accuracy and fitness for purpose throughout the 
lifetime of satellite missions. This requirement stems from the need to demonstrate unambiguously that the space-based measurements, typically based on engineering measurements by the detectors (e.g. photons), are sensitive to and match up with the geophysical and/or biogeochemical quantity of interest at a broad range of measurement locations on Earth. Most geophysical parameters vary in time and space, and the retrieval algorithms used must be accurate under the full range of conditions. Calibration and validation need to be carried out over the lifetime of missions in order to assure that any long-term variation in observation can be definitely be tied to the evolution of the Earth system. Such activities are also critical in ensuring that measurements can be inter-compared and used seamlessly to create long-term multi-instrument//multi-platform data sets, , which enable large-scale international science investigations into topics with high societal or environmental importance such as determining the ice mass balance of Greenland, monitoring the evolution of sea ice and snow cover in the Arctic and improving our knowledge of the terrestrial carbon cycle through multi-sensor forest biomass mapping. . This session seeks presentations on the use of surface-based, airborne, and/or space-based observations to prepare and calibrate/validate space-based satellite missions measuring our Earth system. A particular but not exclusive focus will be on activities carried out jointly by NASA and ESA as part of their Joint Program Planning Group Subgroup on calibration and validation and field activities.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. Originating mostly from military applications, their use is rapidly expanding to commercial, recreational, agricultural, and scientific applications. Unlike manned aircraft, UAVs were initially used for missions too "dull, dirty, or dangerous" for humans. Nowadays however, many modern scientific experiments have begun to use UAVs as a tool to collect different types of data. Their flexibility and relatively simple usability now allow scientist to accomplish tasks that previously required expensive equipment like piloted aircrafts, gas, or hot air balloons. Even the industry has begun to adapt and offer extensive options in UAV characteristics and capabilities. At this session, we would like people to share their experience in using UAVs for scientific research. We are interested to hear about specific scientific tasks accomplished or attempted, types of UAVs used, and instruments deployed.

Cartography and mapping are at this time the only means to conduct basic geoscientific studies (on planetary surfaces). The field of Planetary Cartography and Mapping has been stepping out of its niche existence in the last 15 years due to the availability of an unprecedented amount of new data from various planetary exploration missions from different countries and the advent of internet technology that allows to manage, process, distribute, analyze, and collaborate efficiently. Geospatial information system technology plays a pivotal role in this process and essentially all planetary surface science research in this field benefits from this technology and frequent new developments.
With the availability of data and connection, however, comes the challenge of organizing and structuring available data and research, such as maps and newly derived and refined (base) data that is about to enter its new research life cycle.
This session welcomes presentations covering planetary data and its development into cartographic products and maps. This covers aspects of data archival, dissemination, structuring, analyzing, filtering, visualizing, collaboration, and map compilation but is not limited to these topics.
It should also be emphasized that the exchange of knowledge and experiences from the Earth Sciences would be highly beneficial for the Planetary Data Sciences.