The interaction of the solar wind with planetary magnetospheres and ionospheres is crucial for understanding the flow of energy and momentum from the Sun to the planets. Some effects, such as the terrestrial aurora, occur on short timescales whilst others, for example plasma loss to the solar wind, may determine the long term evolution of planetary atmospheres. The planetary environments respond differently to the diverse range of solar wind conditions determined by the solar wind dynamic pressure, velocity and interplanetary magnetic field configurations. Understanding these interaction processes also improves our ability to forecast space weather events that have the potential to disrupt global communication and electrical services and damage artificial satellites.

These interaction processes can be observed with the highest spatial and temporal resolution at Earth, while observations at other planets and moons show the application of these mechanisms to radically different scenarios. These differences are determined by numerous factors including the presence of planetary magnetic fields and atmospheric composition together with their impact on key physical processes, such as magnetic reconnection and radiative transport of energy. Therefore studies conducted throughout the solar system can, collectively, advance our knowledge of the fundamental physical processes.

These highly active research areas currently have observing programmes at Mercury, Venus, Earth, the Moon, Mars, Saturn and Titan. We anticipate submission of abstracts which discuss these complementary research areas. We particularly welcome presentations that seek to draw physical comparisons between different environments.