Planetary scientists need efficient access to the best and latest available observations, laboratory measurements, theoretical or
simulation models encompassing a large number of different fields. The
development of e-infrastructures, as defined by the e-Infrastructure
Reflection Group in its document "e-IRG Roadmap 2010", allows each
scientist having an access to the web to access to all electronically
available resources whatever they are: data, software, computing
facility, forum of experts ... Main data suppliers like space agencies
and research organizations managing the main ground observatories have
developed and maintain/extend large data repositories for archiving
observations: NASA/PDS and ESA/PSA are well known examples of these long
term efforts to offer a permanent access to unique data in order to
optimize their use. Meanwhile numerous data bases of interest for
planetary sciences do exist over the world with more or less
user-friendly interfaces. The efficient data mining of these
observational archives, or the efficient search for a given laboratory
data or a data processing software requires standards for making data
repositories interoperable with protocols for searching, accessing, and
retrieving data in a way as easy as possible for the front end user.
Virtual Observatories provide users this easy access to public data,
data processing tools to analyse, visualize, and possibly combine
ressources whatever are their location and archiving format. Theoretical
VOs also provide access to simulation tools or to simulation results.

The aim of this session is :
- to make a review of the state of the art in interoperability following
recommendations by international organizations like IPDA and IVOA,
- to present available data repositories allowing automated search by requests from VOs,
- to present VO projects devoted to, or of interest for planetary sciences,
- to present science cases demonstrating the power of VO tools in
planetary sciences.