The relationship between endogenic and exogenic processes have produced a variety of landforms, compositions and structures observed on Mars, Venus, Mercury and the Moon, which are often similar to those on Earth. The calibration and interpretation of the datasets provided by the plethora of space missions, testing of hypotheses and other practical questions require an ever increasing number of tools and methods for verification. Thus, despite the utility of classical methods of investigations and the continual developments of data mining and machine learning, the scientific community still needs to look for ground-truth to fully interpret the data and test their hypotheses.
The study of analogues (i.e. natural geological settings) and simulant (i.e. artificially made) materials provide insights into processes that may have occurred on other planets, allowing an additional viewpoint for interpretations. Thus, they represent the most effective tool to fill the gap between models/lab experiments and reality, making them fundamental in interpreting geological and other planetary processes.
Due to the increasing interest and importance of this topic, the goal of this session is to bring together scientists from different fields to share their insights in understanding the Earth and terrestrial planets with new “eyes”, plan future missions and investigate limits of life. This includes planetary geologists (working with remotely sensed data, potential field data and seismic data), engineers, astrophysicists studying rocky exoplanets and astrobiologists studying life in extreme environments.
This session welcomes contributions involving studies of:
-Terrestrial analogues to Mars, Mercury, Moon, Icy Satellites and other Solar System bodies
-Field analogues and remotes sensing studies
-Field analogues and potential field /seismological studies
-Laboratory experiments on planetary analogue conditions
-Soil and regolith simulants
-Field terrestrial analogues and studies on life in extreme environments
-Development of ISRU technologies, based on the insights provided by analogue and simulant experiments