Facility Access Through the Europlanet Distributed Research and Technology Infrastructure (RTI)

Europlanet provides access to state-of-the-art facilities for the simulation of planetary and wider space environments, analysis of planetary samples, testing and development of space technologies, and support of interdisciplinary studies.

Developed through European Commission funding from 2005-2024, and now operating as a self-sustaining non-profit association, Europlanet coordinates access to a global, distributed Research and Technology Infrastructure (RTI) that enables the planetary community to address major scientific and technological challenges. The facilities offered are owned and operated by organisational members of Europlanet, and cover a wide range of experimental set-ups and disciplines, ranging from neutron sources (which can be used e.g. for analysing crystalline and disordered structures in planetary/analogue samples) to light gas guns (to investigate hypervelocity impacts) and laboratories  supporting techniques from electron-induced fluorescence (e.g. for studying the environments in planetary atmospheres) to carbon-14 dating accelerator mass spectrometry (e.g. for analyses of terrestrial/extraterrestrial organic and inorganic samples).

Europlanet’s flagship Transnational Access (TA) programme is designed to allow researchers from anywhere in the world, and at all career stages, to have access to facilities to carry out research projects and to foster international collaborations. 

The TA programme supports all travel and local accommodation costs for European and international researchers to visit Europlanet’s RTI facilities for up to two weeks, as well as providing a contribution to the operating costs of the participating facilities. Proposals are evaluated by a peer review process.

The number and diversity of RTI facilities offered by Europlanet’s member organisations continues to grow rapidly. The 2026A call included 25 facilities hosted by ten organisations, and a second call with additional facilities is anticipated to open in September 2026.

Impact evaluation shows that access to facilities and expertise through Europlanet's TA programme leads to scientific advancements that would not otherwise occur, with over 90% of visits resulting in ongoing collaborations between the facilities and visitors and over 66% resulting in new avenues of research.¹ Europlanet accelerates career development for early-stage researchers by providing training, mentoring, summer/winter schools, research project opportunities, and a professional network development.

In this presentation, we will give a status update on Europlanet’s distributed RTI and TA programme, as well as share plans for the future, including opportunities for access through future EC Grants.

• DeWitt, J., Heward, A. & Mason, N.J. Insights into evaluating a research project through an impact case study of a pan-European research infrastructure. Nature Astronomy , 9, 1415–1417 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02684-7