Session programme

This session welcomes all presentations on Mars' interior and surface processes. The aim of this session is to bring together disciplines as various as geology, geomorphology, geophysics, mineralogy, glaciology, and chemistry. We welcome presentations on either present or past Mars processes, either pure Mars science or comparative planetology with the Earth, either observations or modeling or laboratory experiments (or any combination of those). New results on Mars science obtained from recent in situ and orbital measurements are particularly encouraged, as well as prospective science for the preparation of future missions to be exploring Mars (ExoMars, Rover 2020).

This session welcomes presentations about volatile and fluid flows on the Martian surface and subsurface. Hydrothermal fluid circulation in the Martian crust is among the natural processes characterized by the combined involvement of fluids, such as water and methane, so defining a potential set of environments prone to biosphere growth and flourish. Aqueous fluid migration affects a broad range of physical, chemical, mechanical and thermal properties of the upper crust and it is closely linked to the transport of mass, heat, nutrients and chemical species in hydrogeological systems. Thus, fluid flows are central in fields such as volcano-tectonic, deep-biosphere and water/ice cycle. Accordingly, participants are encouraged to apply for this session with contributions concerning fluid migration mechanisms, products and effects, volatile evolution from erosion to deposition, diagenesis and astrobiological potential, both on Mars and terrestrial analogue sites. Experimental and numerical modeling of fluid circulation processes and water-rock interaction are also welcome.

Mobile dust has a huge impact on the Martian climate. In the thin atmosphere, dust can modify temperatures by several tens of degrees and lead to a massive change in circulation strength, as well as providing condensation nuclei for cloud formation, while surface dust removal and deposition can produce substantial changes in global albedo patterns and (over longer timescales) polar layering. Yet many of the processes responsible for dust being raised from the surface and through the boundary layer, for the interaction of dust with the water and CO2 cycles, and for how dust storms develop and feed back on the circulation, are still not well understood. However, recent years have brought new theories on topics ranging from the thresholds for dust lifting to how dust phenomena operating on different spatio-temporal scales may be connected, and studies of the exceptionally well-observed 2018 global dust storm are sure to spur even more ideas.

This session solicits contributions on all aspects of Mars atmospheric dust phenomena, from lifting by dust devils to upper atmosphere impacts of global dust storms, investigated via the analysis of observations, laboratory and field experiments, and/or the use of numerical modeling. Contributions that demonstrate the application of Earth-based ideas and techniques to Mars, or that provide insight on dust lifting from an aeolian geology perspective, are particularly welcome. The session will consist of oral talks, both invited and contributed, and posters.

The Trace Gas Orbiter of the ExoMars programme in now in its science orbit since April 2018 and is producing exciting results, Mars Express and Curiosity are still going strong and Insight has just started its science mission. The ExoMars Rover and Surface Platform and NASA's 2020 Rover are expected to be launched in summer 2020. Indeed vibrant times for Mars research. This session is open for papers dealing with recent results from Mars missions, ground observations, supporting theory and modelling, as well as plans for upcoming missions in the near and intermediate future. Especially papers presenting investigations about the geology, geomorphology, thermophysics, local meteorology, rover trafficability, special in-orbit image acquisition campaigns, etc... of Oxia Planum and Jezero West are invited.

The EPSC symposium "Open Lunar Science & Innovation (International Conference on Exploration & Utilisation of the Moon ICEUM14) " will address:
- Celebrating the legacy of Apollo and Luna programmes
- 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, Space IL
- Goals and Status of missions under preparation: orbiters, Luna25-27, SLIM, Chang'E 5, GLXP legacy, 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, support studies
- ILEWG and Global Exploration roadmaps towards a global robotic/human Moon village
- Strategic Knowledge Gaps, and key science Goals relevant to Lunar Global Exploration
- The Moon Village with the goal of a sustainable human and robotic presence on the lunar surface as an ensemble where multiple users can carry out multiple activities.
- The Moon for planetary science, life sciences, astronomy, fundamental research, resources utilisation, human spaceflight, peaceful cooperation, economical development, inspiration, training and capacity building.
- How a laboratory on the Moon should be equipped to be useful for a variety of disciplines, including geology, biology, and chemistry
- How can the Moon Village serve as a stepping stone for exploration of Mars and planetary bodies even further away?
-Historical, societal, humanistic aspects of lunar exploration

Lunar science and exploration are developing further with new and exciting missions being developed by China, the US, Japan, India, Russia, Korea and Europe, and with new stakeholders.

The session will include invited and contributed talks as well as a panel discussion and interactive posters with short oral introduction.

The Moon has been our guide to cratering and other processes that affect airless rocks in space. Recent discoveries have shown that the Moon is not what we thought it was, suggesting we ought to re-examine our understanding of processes affecting airless rocky bodies and their surfaces.

Public information:
The Moon has been our guide to cratering and other processes that affect airless rocks in space. Recent discoveries have shown that the Moon is not what we thought it was, suggesting we ought to re-examine our understanding of processes affecting airless rocky bodies and their surfaces.

New modelling efforts supported by observations of space probes like Mars Express or Cassini have improved our understanding of physical and chemical processes of moon formation in the Solar System. Modeling of formation has been extensively developed but several aspects are still uncertain. For instance, models of the origin of the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos are still debated. The evolution of the icy moons of giant planets is still puzzling. It motivates new mission like the NASA’s Europa Clipper and ESA’S JUICE missions to the Jovian system, as well as the JAXA’s MMX mission to the Martian system. The MMX mission will collect samples from Phobos (first sample return mission from the Martian system) and engage in a close-range exploration of Deimos too. Amongst their objectives the JUICE and Europa missions will focus on the interior of Galilean satellites and on the Jovian environment and its link with the moon system.
These missions will provide further data to answer the fundamental question how moons in our solar system formed.
The session invites contributions related to current knowledge and understanding of formation processes of solar system satellites as well as related to current missions in development, like MMX, Eurpa-Clipper or JUICE, and their approach to further our understanding of formation and evolution of natural satellites.

Understanding the formation, evolution, composition, the interior structure and the environment of Mercury is a primary goal of the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission and of many theoretical, observational, and experimental studies. NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft provided many new insights and surprising results regarding these goals. However, the mission also raised many new questions that will be addressed by ESA/JAXA BepiColombo that has been successfully launched last October. This session welcomes contributions addressing the planet’s geology, surface composition, geodesy, interior structure, laboratory measurements, ground-based observations, exosphere, magnetosphere, gravity and magnetic fields and all those work related to the investigation of this terrestrial planet.
A second focus of the session is on the BepiColombo spacecraft and payload cruise activities, in addition to related public outreach activities.

This session welcomes presentations on all aspect of the Venus system including interior, surface, atmosphere and ionosphere. We welcome presentations based on past or current observations, theory and modelling, as well as presentations related to future instruments and missions including the ESA-NASA proposed EnVision Venus orbiter and NASA Discovery Venus missions.

This session aims at understanding deep interiors and atmospheres of solar system bodies and massive extra-solar planets, their associated internal processes and corresponding material behaviour at extreme pressures and temperatures. These will have important implications for structural models (e.g. location of layer boundaries), evolution scenarios (e.g. demixing phenomena, diffusion), and magnetic field generation (e.g. nonmetal-metal transitions). This session also bridges the geophysical knowledge of bodies in the Solar System to rocky exoplanets by considering the potentially observable signatures associated with geologically-active worlds. Potentially fruitful targets are molten or volcanically-active planets, where the atmosphere and interior are tightly coupled through the exchange of heat and mass.

The session will include solicited and contributed papers addressing observational, laboratory, and theoretical studies of matter under planetary interior conditions.

Included subtopics are:
(1) Ab initio simulations and laboratory studies for matter under extreme conditions
(2) Interior structure, composition, and evolution
(3) Equation of state, melting, and phase transformation at extreme states
(4) Volcanism and magma ocean modeling
(5) Novel observational signatures of active worlds

The past few years have witnessed great advances in the computational simulations of impacts in planetary systems. These advances have played fundamental roles in reshaping models of planet formation, especially the formation of terrestrial planets and their compositions. For instance, more accurate simulations of giant impacts have enabled terrestrial planet formation models to branch away from the traditional perfect-merging scenario and have placed them on the path to becoming quantitative (and, therefore, predictive). Also, recent ideas on the early instabilities in our solar system have opened a new pathway to adopting more realistic initial conditions for the formation of our terrestrial planets and the origin of their chemical compositions. Collectively all these advances have also paved the way for extending new models of terrestrial planet formation to other planetary systems. The goal of this session is to address the above-mentioned topics through a combination of invited and contributed talks (as well as poster presentations). We will be happy to receive and welcome abstracts for oral and poster contributions in all areas related to theoretical, observational and experimental studies of terrestrial planet formation in our solar system and extrasolar planets.

Shape, gravity field, orbit, tidal deformation, and rotation state are fundamental geodetic parameters of any planet, satellite, asteroid, or comet. Measurements of these parameters are prerequisites for e.g. spacecraft navigation and mapping from orbit, but also for modelling of the interior and evolution of the object. This session welcomes contributions from all aspects of planetary geodesy, including the relevant theories, observations and models.

Planetary accretion, giant collisions, core formation, magma-ocean crystallization and other important processes during the early days of the solar system set the stage for the long-term evolution of terrestrial planets. These early processes can happen simultaneously or in recurring stages, and are ultimately followed by progressive crustal growth, long-term mantle mixing/differentiation, core-mantle interaction, as well as inner-core crystallization. Indeed, the coupled early and long-term evolution shapes the present-day structure and thermal state of planetary interiors. We seek to gain a better understanding of the formation and evolution of terrestrial bodies by bringing together studies from geophysics, geodynamics, mineral physics, geochemistry, and petrology.
This session welcomes contributions focused on data analysis, modeling and experimental work that address the formation and evolution of terrestrial planets and moons in the Solar System, and around other stars.

Planetary collisions are integral mechanisms that both shape the final configuration of the solar system and modify planetary surfaces thereafter. This session is aimed at understanding planetary impact processes at all scales, from the cratering regime to the giant impact regime, in terms of shock processes, dynamical aspects, geochemical consequences, and cratering chronology. We also welcome the examination of competing hypotheses for the giant impact formation of terrestrial and outer solar system bodies. Naturally, advancing our understanding of impact phenomena requires a multidisciplinary approach, which includes (but it is not limited to) numerical modelling, laboratory-scale experiments, geologic and structural mapping, remote sensing, petrographic analysis of impact products, and isotopic and elemental geochemistry analysis. We welcome presentations across this broad range of study and particularly encourage work that bridges the gap between the investigative methods employed in studying planetary impact processes at all scales.

Space missions have provided a wealth of data on the atmospheres and aeronomy of rocky planets and moons, from the lower layers up to the external envelopes in direct contact with the solar wind. A recent emerging finding is evidence that the atmosphere behaves as a single coherent system with complex coupling between layers.

This session solicits contributions that investigate processes at work (chemistry, energetics, dynamics, electricity, escape etc...) on Venus, Mars, and Titan and includes studies of the coupling between the lower/middle and upper atmospheres. Contributions based on analysis of recent spacecraft and ground-based observations, comparative planetology studies, numerical modelling and relevant laboratory investigations are particularly welcome. The session will consist of invited and contributed oral talks as well as posters.

Space missions, ground-based observations and theory allow for detailed characterization of planetary upper atmospheres in the solar system that provides novel insights into the physical mechanisms at play. At the same time, the detection of short-period extrasolar planets has inspired numerous studies of chemistry, dynamics, and escape of the upper atmospheres of these planets, at more extreme conditions than those found in the solar system. More than ever, it is critical to foster the communication between the communities working on the theoretical and observational aspects of both solar system and exoplanet upper atmospheres. This communication will secure a solid progress in the interpretation of new atmospheric observables and in the implications for e.g. planet demographics.

This session brings together researchers from the solar system and exoplanet communities in an attempt to exchange knowledge and ideas. We welcome papers on all aspects of planetary aeronomy i.e., the science of the upper atmosphere, either in the solar system or exoplanet systems. Suitable papers include results on photochemistry and ionization, magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling, energy balance and circulation, atmospheric escape and evolution as well as new observations and novel observational techniques.

Atmospheric aerosols and cloud particles are found in every atmosphere of the solar system, as well as, in exoplanets. Depending on their size, shape, chemical composition, latent heat, and distribution, their effect on the radiation budget varies drastically and is difficult to predict. When organic, aerosols also carry a strong prebiotic interest reinforced by the presence of heavy atoms such as nitrogen, oxygen or sulfur.

The aim of the session is to gather presentations on these complex objects for both terrestrial and giant planet atmospheres, including the special cases of Titan’s and Pluto's hazy atmospheres. All research aspects from their production and evolution processes, their observation/detection, to their fate and atmospheric impact are welcomed, including laboratory investigations and modeling.

Ionospheres are an integral part of planetary atmospheres, being tightly coupled to the neutral atmosphere, exosphere and surrounding plasma environments. Specifically, the ionospheres of unmagnetized (or weakly-magnetized) bodies with substantial atmospheres are controlled not only by solar radiation and neutral atmosphere variations, but also directly impacted by the surrounding plasma environment (e.g. the solar wind for Mars, Venus, Pluto and comets, and the Kronian magnetosphere for Titan) and space weather variability. Understanding how each unmagnetized body reacts to all these factors is a key in comparative aeronomy because although a priori all of them have a general similar behavior, they also have scientifically important differences caused by their different natures. This session focuses on the ionospheres of Mars, Venus, Pluto, Titan, and comets such as 67P/CG, and solicits abstracts concerning remote and in situ data analysis, modeling studies, instrumentation and mission concepts. Topics may include, but are not limited to, day and night side ionospheric variability, sources and influences of ionization, ion-neutral coupling, current systems, comparative ionospheric studies, and solar wind-ionosphere interactions and responses of the ionized and neutral regimes to transient space weather events. Abstracts on general plasma and escape processes are also welcome.

A planetary magnetosphere, formed by the interaction of the solar wind with a planet’s global magnetic field (intrinsic) or upper atmosphere (induced), plays a significant role in both the neutral and ionized regimes of the local space environment. The structure and dynamics of the Terrestrial magnetospheres have many similarities and differences. Mercury and Earth offer examples of intrinsic magnetospheres that experience different degrees of solar wind forcing and atmospheric contributions. The induced magnetospheres of Venus and Mars depict the solar wind-atmospheric interaction with differences in ionospheric densities and the existence of remnant crustal magnetic fields, for instance. Similar plasma processes exist among these magnetospheres, but offer drastically different temporal and spatial scales (e.g., magnetic reconnection, ion escape, wave-particle interaction, flux rope formation). To provide a forum for discussion of recent data analysis and modeling efforts, we invite contributions on general magnetospheric processes at the Terrestrial planets. This includes, but is not limited to: solar wind-magnetosphere interactions, atmospheric escape, magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling, plasma acceleration and transport, magnetic reconnection, magnetotail dynamics, and bow shock physics. We strongly encourage comparative studies between planetary magnetospheres throughout the solar system. Results from various missions such as MESSENGER, BepiColombo, VEX, MMS, MEX, MGS, MAVEN, and more, are actively solicited.

Astrobiology is the study of whether present or past life exists elsewhere in the universe. To understand how life can begin in space, it is essential to know what organic compounds were likely available, and how they interacted with the planetary environment. This session seeks papers that offer existing/novel theoretical models or computational works that address the chemical and environmental conditions relevant to astrobiology on terrestrial planets/moons or ocean worlds, along with other theoretical, experimental, and observational works related to the emergence and development of Life in the Universe. This includes work related to prebiotic chemistry, the chemistry of early life, the biogeochemistry of life’s interaction with its environment, chemistry associated with biosignatures and their false positives, and chemistry pertinent to conditions that could possibly harbor life (e.g. Titan, Enceladus, Europa, TRAPPIST-1, habitable exoplanets, etc.). Understanding how the planetary environment has influenced the evolution of life and how biological processes have changed the environment is an essential part of any study of the origin and search for signs of life. Major Space Agencies identified planetary habitability and the search for evidence of life as a key component of their scientific missions in the next two decades. The development of instrumentation and technology to support the search for complex organic molecules and the endurance of life in space environments is critical to define unambiguous approaches to life detection over a broad range of planetary environments.

This session welcomes abstracts from several scientific domains such as prebiotic and interstellar chemistry, micropaleontology, limits of life, habitability, and biosignature detection.

Earth analogues are natural field sites with conditions that resemble one or more conditions found in planetary bodies. The importance of those extreme sites are crucial for study limits of life, habitability and for the space missions tools and techniques test before flying. Those extreme sites can be interpreted as natural laboratories. This session also welcomes abstracts on scientific investigations in planetary analogues fieldwork that are being carried out with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) a.k.a. drones.

Late posters Terrestrial Planets (TP)