The objective of the General Session is to accommodate abstracts from a program group that do not align with the themes of any existing sessions within the same program group. Please note that all submitted abstracts may be reallocated to a different session at the discretion of the respective session chairs.

Interstellar objects (ISOs) have become a novel field of Galactic small body studies, connecting the formation history of our Solar System to the processes of planetesimal creation and evolution that play out in planetary systems across the Milky Way.

The known population of ISOs is expected to increase soon, following 1I/`Oumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019, as the planetary science community reaps the benefits of a new generation of survey telescopes. At the given epoch, the intrinsic ISO population remains observationally unconstrained; theoretical predictions are equally influential as observed physical characteristics on our understanding.

This session explores the past, present, and future research on interstellar objects, and is therefore open to contributions from a wide range of topics, including (but not limited to):
- Planetesimal formation and ejection mechanisms
- ISO dynamics in the Galaxy
- Evolutionary processing of small bodies e.g. in the interstellar medium or tidal disruption
- The relationships of Solar System populations to ISOs
- Observational characterisation of the known ISO population, 1I and 2I
- Population modelling & predictions for future ISO discoveries
- Mission concepts for in-situ ISO observation

On 27 January, the near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 was assigned a Torino Scale impact rating of 3, reaching a record high impact probability with Earth in 2032 before further observations ruled it out as a threat. This session will present on the multiple observations and methodologies used to assess the impact risk posed by 2024 YR4 on both Earth and the Moon. We will feature telescopic observational campaigns—including astrometric, photometric, and spectroscopic investigations—that together offer crucial insights into the determination of the orbit and physical properties. In addition, the session will discuss modeling techniques for physical characterization and dynamic simulations, as well as logistical challenges and lessons learned that can inform our response to future impact threats from similar objects. Participants are invited to share research findings and innovative approaches that enhance our planetary defense strategies.

The characterization of cometary nuclei and their dust, gas and plasma environment is being done through in-situ and remote observations techniques.
In the context of the Rosetta mission and missions to small bodies including Comet Interceptor, and international observing campaigns of bright comets such as 12P/Pons-Brooks, C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), we solicit presentations on recent investigations.

The session will present results of optical, infrared or radio observations of comets and
active bodies obtained from ground-based telescopes, space observatories such as JWST, as
well as recent results from in-situ measurements from space missions.

The session includes results from sample return missions, in particular those achieved by the recent OSIRIS-Rex (NASA), Hayabusa2 , (JAXA), Chang’e 5 (CNSA) and Chang’e 6. The aim is to stimulate the discussion on the perspective of future sample return missions, in terms of science and technological value, specifically in view of NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission.
The session is opened, but not restricted, to the following topics: a) new results from in-orbit observations of sample return missions; b) new laboratory analyses on samples returned from OSIRIS-REx, Hayabusa2, Chang’e 5, Chang’e 6 and past missions (e.g., Luna, Apollo, Stardust, Hayabusa); c) preliminary activities for the Mars Sample Return mission; d) preparation, performed studies and expected results from future sample return missions (e.g., Mars Sample Return, Tianwen2); e) new sample return mission concepts; f) technologies and methods for sample return; g) technologies and concepts for curation facilities; h) technologies and concepts for handling, transportation and analysis of
returned samples in laboratory and between laboratories.

Recent advancements in observational capabilities, particularly from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the technique of stellar occultations, have significantly deepened our understanding of the composition and physical properties of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and Centaurs. When combining data from ground- and space-based observatories, as well as laboratory experiments, these findings provide valuable insights into the formation and evolution of these distant bodies, including their satellites and ring systems. This session will showcase the latest results from JWST, stellar occultations and the combination of different techniques being applied to TNOs and Centaurs, highlighting cutting-edge research in this exciting field.

The asteroids in particular and the asteroid-comet-dwarf planet continuum in general bear the signature of the birth of the solar system. Their observed properties allow for testing theories regarding the evolution of the solar system's planetary objects and of their prospective development. Additional important insights into this exciting field of research are provided by the laboratory investigations of the samples delivered to the Earth in the form of meteorites and by sophisticated numerical models.
The session will gather researchers of different communities for a better understanding of the evolution and properties of small bodies, ranging from planetesimals or cometesimals to icy moons, and including meteorite parent bodies. It will address recent progresses made on physical and chemical properties of these objects, their interrelations and their evolutionary paths by observational, experimental, and theoretical approaches.
We welcome contributions on the studies of the processes on and the evolution of specific parent bodies of meteorites, investigations across the continuum of small bodies, including comets and icy moons, ranging from local and short-term to global and long-term processes, studies of the surface dynamics on small bodies, studies of exogenous and endogenous driving forces of the processes involved, as well as statistical and numerical impact models for small bodies observed closely within recent space missions (e.g., AIDA, Hayabusa2, Lucy, New Horizons, OSIRIS-REx).

The section "Advances in Photopolarimetry and Spectropolarimetry of Solar System Small Bodies" highlights recent progress and breakthroughs in applying these techniques to study small bodies such as asteroids, comets, moons, transneptunian objects, and interplanetary dust. Photopolarimetry and spectropolarimetry provide crucial insights into surface textures, particle sizes, porosities, and compositions, helping to constrain the physical and dynamic evolution of these objects. We invite abstract submissions on advancements in observational, numerical, and laboratory techniques, as well as innovative approaches to data extraction and analysis. Topics can include (but not limited to): (1) New techniques in photometric, polarimetric, and spectropolarimetric observations. (2) Advances in modeling, data reduction algorithms, and analysis pipelines. (3) Laboratory measurements of optical and polarimetric properties. (4) Software and web-based tools for collaborative data sharing and interpretation. This section aims to foster interdisciplinary discussions and novel approaches that deepen our understanding of Solar System small bodies and their evolution.

This session focuses on the connections between various types of small bodies in the Solar System, such as comets, asteroids, and centaurs, emphasizing their activity at different distances from the Sun. Special attention will be given to analyzing the activity of small bodies in the context of their evolution, as well as addressing open questions and unresolved issues in this field. The session will also highlight the importance of monitoring and archival data, which serve as resources for current analysis and as crucial elements for long-term observations of small bodies. Furthermore, such data allow for the study of activity changes over time and provide essential context for understanding evolutionary processes.
Various research methods for studying small bodies will be discussed, as the use of data from new space missions and modeling techniques will contribute to a more accurate understanding of the mechanisms behind their activity as well as the development of new approaches to studying the origin and evolution of small bodies in the Solar System.

Electromagnetic scattering phenomena play a key role in determining the properties of Solar System surfaces based on observations using different techniques and in a variety of wavelengths ranging from the ultraviolet to the radio. This session will promote a general advancement in the exploitation of observational and experimental techniques to characterize radiative transfer in complex particulate media. Abstracts are solicited on advances in numerical methods to extract relevant information from imagery, photometry, and spectroscopy in solid phase, reference laboratory databases, photometric modeling, interpreting features on planetary surfaces, mixing/unmixing methods, AI and machine learning, software and web service applications.

More than ten thousand tons of extraterrestrial objects, ranging in size from a few microns to a few meters in diameter, enter Earth’s atmosphere annually. A small fraction of these objects yields free samples of extraterrestrial matter—meteorites—for laboratory study. The majority of these objects burn up or ablate completely in the Earth’s atmosphere, appearing as visible meteors in the night sky. By recording meteor activity and modeling the process of ablation, we can directly measure the flux of small planetary impactors. This provides ground truth for estimating present cratering rates and planetary surface ages.

The rapid advancement of observational and modeling techniques has elevated meteor science to one of the primary avenues for investigating the nature and origin of interplanetary matter and its parent bodies. This session aims to serve as a platform for presenting fundamental results and innovative concepts in this field, while also informing the broader planetary science community about the interdisciplinary impact of ongoing and future research efforts.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is a new next-generation survey facility on Cerro Pachón, Chile. It houses the 8.4m Simonyi Survey Telescope coupled with the 3.2 Gigapixel LSSTCam camera. Over a ten-year period – projected to start in late 2025 – Rubin will execute the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Enabled by its 9.6 square degree field of view and a cadence that will image the sky in multiple filters every 3-4 days to ~24.5 mag, within a year the LSST will become the largest catalog of small body observations to date. This survey will discover millions of new objects ranging from orbits inward of Venus to far beyond that of Neptune. The LSST will go beyond just discovery; over its 10-year mission, it will obtain broad-band optical colors and phase curves, and perform real-time monitoring capturing episodes of cometary activity, changes in orbit, asteroid collisions, rotational breakup events, as well as rotational brightness variations. With its volume, richness, and precision, the LSST can dramatically advance the understanding of the Solar System.

The session will present the first Solar System discoveries and characterization data from Rubin commissioning efforts, and preliminary analyses made with those observations. We will also introduce the services and resources for public data access, including documentation and tutorials. We welcome submissions focused on topics related to early LSST Solar System science such as: predictions of discovery yields, presentations on Solar System-oriented alert brokers and other science-enabling tools, follow-up observations and campaigns, citizen science projects, and ways to combine LSST data with other sources of astronomical data. With the full LSST data stream arriving just a few months following this session, we hope to excite and prepare the community for science with this one-of-a-kind dataset.

The Martian system presents a unique environment with its two peculiar moons, Phobos and Deimos, whose origins remain a matter of debate, with discussions mostly between a giant collision or the capture of primitive asteroids. This session welcomes presentations that explore all facets of the two Martian moons, from their surface characteristics and internal structures to their interactions with the space environment. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, geophysical investigations, geo-chemical composition, orbital dynamics, and space-weathering processes.
We particularly encourage presentations on scientific results using data from past and present missions as well as abstract addressing the future exploration of Phobos and Deimos, including mission and instrument concepts and developments, and preparation studies for the upcoming JAXA’s Martian Moon eXploration (MMX) mission.

On October 7, 2024, the ESA Hera mission was launched successfully to reach the binary asteroid Didymos in fall 2026, which will provide detailed measurements of the outcome of the first asteroid deflection experiment successfully achieved by the NASA DART mission. Other missions are under study at ESA, such as NEOMIR and RAMSES. The NASA NEOSurveyor spacecraft is also planed for launch in 2027, to perform the inventory of NEOs larger than 140 m in diameter. From the Earth, the Vera Rubin telescope as well other observational programs will increase drastically the number of discoveries of NEOs. Planetary defense is thus a field that keeps growing with a wide range of activities, from active space missions to space mission concepts and observations from the ground and from space, numerical modeling of asteroid properties and of deflection techniques as well as public communication. This session will present recent progresses and perspectives.

Apophis T-4 years: preparing for a once in a lifetime opportunity for planetary defense and science

The goal of this session is to cover numerical simulations and relevant laboratory investigations related to the Small Bodies (comets, KBOs, rings, asteroids, meteorites, dust), their formation and evolution, and the instruments of their exploration. This session is specially focused on the interdisciplinary approach in the development of models (formal descriptions of physical phenomena), experiments (on ground and in micro-gravity), and mathematical simulations (computational methods and algorithms of solution) of various astrophysical phenomena: (i) dusty gas cometary atmospheres; (ii) volcanic activity on icy satellites (e.g. Enceladus and Io); (iii) planetary body formation (e.g. via pebbles growth), and planetesimal dynamics.

This session will include an introduction and discussion of new and/or existing laboratory studies in simulated space-like environments and models, experimental techniques, computational methods that can address the results of analytical, experimental and numerical analysis (with respect to computational methods and algorithms of solution) on the above described studies.

Abstracts on thermophysical evolution models of small bodies interiors as well as on the modeling of atmosphere and exosphere are welcome.

Radar observations can provide detailed information on material properties (e.g., composition, porosity, roughness) for planetary surfaces across the solar system. Crucially, ground-based measurements, such as from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and the Goldstone Solar System Radar in California, have provided invaluable astrometric information and size constraints for over 1000 near-Earth objects, which have been used to inform planetary defense. Furthermore, for some NEOs, radar imaging has provided meter-scale details of shape and wavelength-scale roughness and spacecraft radars have provided constraints for small-body interiors (e.g., CONSERT on ROSETTA). Across the solar system, radar measurements have discovered in situ resources, such as buried water ice, and informed landing site selection by facilitating geohazard assessment studies.
For more than 50 years, the Arecibo Observatory planetary radar explored the Solar System from Earth, including determining the rotation rate of Mercury, detecting liquids on Saturn’s moon Titan, and observing tens to hundreds of NEOs yearly, many with sufficient data for detailed analysis of surface morphology and 3-D shape reconstruction. Current radar facilities continue monitoring near-Earth space (e.g., Goldstone), as well as emerging capabilities at Green Bank Observatory and southern hemisphere observing capabilities in Australia. Various radar observing methods have also been used to study Solar System bodies in orbit, including synthetic aperture radar imagers (e.g., the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Mini-RF), and sounders (e.g., Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s SHARAD). Many more such instruments are en route (e.g., RIME on JUICE and REASON on Clipper for Ganymede and Europa, as well as JuRa for 65803 Didymos) and others are in development (e.g., SRS on EnVision, and VISAR on VERITAS for Venus), as well as planned instruments for small body exploration, including the upcoming close-approach of 99942 Apophis (e.g., RAMSES).
In this session, we invite contributions relating to ground- and space-based planetary radars, from the analysis of existing missions and facilities, laboratory and field-analog studies, to instrument development, and new techniques to conduct radar studies.

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the development of computer software capable of performing tasks that would typically require human intelligence. Machine learning (ML) is a branch of computer science that explores algorithms that can learn from data. ML is primarily divided into supervised and unsupervised learning. In the former, the algorithm is presented with examples of labeled examples, and a training routine is executed to learn a general rule that maps inputs to outputs. In the latter, no label is provided to the learning algorithm, which enables the network to autonomously identify latent and representative structures in the data. Deep learning is a branch of machine learning based on multiple layers of artificial neural networks, which are computing systems inspired by the biological neural networks found in animal brains. This session aims to provide a forum for discussing recent advancements in the applications of AI and ML to planetary science.

The Gaia mission is publishing a large amount of data concerning the minor bodies of the Solar System, with unique properties and quality. However, peculiarities of Gaia data, consequence of the typical complexity intrinsic to space missions, make an appropriate exploitation complex. This session has the ambition of gathering the community of planetary scientists exploiting Gaia through any of its data products, for sharing and discussing results, difficulties, experiences, and future perspectives. Several publications have made use of the Data Release 3 (2022) including astrometry for more than 150 thousand asteroids at milli-arcsec level accuracy. Minor planet positions by Gaia, used alone or combined with other data sources, have led to progress in detection and modeling of subtle dynamical effects, and to changes in observational approaches, especially in the domain of stellar occultations. The Focused Product Release in 2023 extended this data set in time, up to the duration of the nominal mission (5 years), pushing the limit of investigation further. High-precision unfiltered photometry and a first batch of reflectance spectra for 60 thousand asteroids have also been made available, leading to new results by photometric inversion and taxonomic classification. Altogether, the observations by Gaia are contributing to the evolution of our knowledge of the asteroid belt, are offering renewed approaches to ground based observations, and are a precious data source for planning future in-situ space missions. Looking forward to Data Release 4, it is the appropriate time for an evaluation of the impact of Gaia on Solar System science that can also provide useful feedback for the data processing consortium.

JWST has proven to be an essential component in the current era of planetary exploration. Via a combination of high-resolution infrared imaging (NIRCam), and spatially resolved spectroscopy (MIRI, NIRSpec and NIRISS), JWST has been delivering transformative new insights into the origins and physicochemical phenomena shaping the myriad worlds of the Solar System.

Solar System observations have accounted for 4-6% of all JWST time allocated during the first three cycles, with almost every major body being viewed at least once in JWST’s major instrument modes, as well as >100 small bodies across the Solar System. This has generated a host of new discoveries, from the atmospheres and ionospheres of giant planets; to the distribution of ices on ocean moons; the hydration properties of small bodies; the chemical composition of comets; and the taxonomy of Trans-Neptunian Objects to tell the story of Solar System evolution. These exceptional new insights will set the scene for the next generation of planetary missions beyond Mars, both those en route to their destinations (e.g., Lucy, Psyche, JUICE, Europa Clipper and others), and those preparing for the next steps in our exploration of the Solar System.

This interdisciplinary session welcomes papers spanning the entire planetary science community, reporting new discoveries using JWST in any discipline.

Space safety refers to the sustainable use of space, encompassing space-based applications, commerce, science and exploration and focuses on the impacts of space debris, space weather, and planetary defense. It strives towards protecting space infrastructure and human spaceflight missions from orbital debris and from harmful effects of space weather, as well as safeguarding Earth's societies from debris re-entering the atmosphere. Planetary defense involves detecting, tracking, and understanding potentially hazardous near-Earth objects (NEOs), asteroids and comets capable of impacting the Earth.

This session invites presentations on scientific methods, technologies, and missions for surveillance, detection, tracking and characterization of orbital objects around the Earth, for understanding and forecasting space weather and its impact on the space and aviation infrastructure and other technical systems of our society, as well as on asteroids and comets that could threaten the Earth. We also welcome presentations on methodologies, systems and missions for actively mitigating the risks posed by re-entering orbital debris and approaching NEOs to human society.

Understanding the internal structure of kilometric-size asteroids from measurements and modelling

The internal structure of kilometric-size asteroids, including porosity, density variations, and mechanical properties, is critical for understanding their response to external forces such as tidal interactions, impacts, and rotational effects. These properties also have implications for planetary defense strategies, resource exploration, and our broader understanding of early Solar System processes. Several recent past and future planetary missions have or will visit kilometric-size bodies, among them the DART and HERA missions investigating the binary asteroid 65803 Didymos.

The analysis of asteroid interiors relies on radar, gravity, radio science, and seismic observations, which are standard techniques in geophysics and among the most promising ways to investigate small body structures. However, these observations necessitate highly advanced modeling due to the complexity and heterogeneity of asteroid interiors. The interpretation of these data requires sophisticated computational methods that account for the irregular shapes, variable compositions, and fragmented structures characteristic of small Solar System bodies. This session will focus on the examination of asteroid interiors through these observational techniques, complemented by laboratory experiments and computational simulations.

Collisional processes are integral mechanisms that both shape the final configuration of the Solar System, and modify planetary surfaces and small bodies from its birth until today.
This session aims at understanding planetary impact processes at all scales, in terms of impact cratering and ejecta dynamics, crater distribution and crater chronology, material mixing, shock metamorphism and other geochemical consequences, ejecta-atmosphere interactions, impact induced climatic and environmental effects, and biotic responses.

We welcome oral and poster presentations across this broad range of studies about natural or artificial impact collision phenomena on planetary surfaces and small bodies. In particular, abstracts on impact modelling, impact laboratory experiments, geologic and structural mapping, petrographic and geochemical analysis of impact products, as well as remote sensing observations from space missions to planets and small bodies. We also welcome the examination of competing hypotheses for the giant impact formation of terrestrial and outer solar system bodies.