The European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) 2010 will take place at the Angelicum Centre — Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Rome, Italy, from Sunday 19 September to Friday 24 September 2010.
The EPSC is the major European meeting on planetary science and attracts scientists from Europe and around the World. The 2010 program will cover a wide range of planetary topics, including new results from Mars, impact processes in the Solar System, chemical evolution and early planetary life, comparative planetology beyond the Solar System, exploring Martian moons and the Rosetta flybys of asteroids 2867 Steins and 21 Lutetia. More than 900 abstracts for oral presentations and posters have been submitted.
Details of the congress can be found at the official website: http://meetings.copernicus.org/epsc2010/
The EPSC has a distinctively interactive style, with a mix of talks, workshops and posters, intended to provide a stimulating environment for discussion. A draft program can be found at: http://www.europlanet-eu.org/outreach/images/epsc2010_draft_program.pdf
A full schedule of EPSC 2010 scientific sessions and events will be released by the end of July. Further information will be circulated a few weeks before the meeting, including press notices on presentations that may be of special interest (subject to embargo).
EPSC 2010 is organized by Europlanet, a Research Infrastructure funded under the European Commission’s Framework 7 Programme, in association with the European Geosciences Union, with the support of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) and the INAF Institute of Physics of Interplanetary Space (IFSI) in Rome.
EPSC also promotes dissemination of Planetary Science through a chain of events for the general public: INAF is organizing three public conferences in the cloister of San Pietro in Vincoli, the historical building of Engineering Faculty of the University of Rome, “La Sapienza”. INAF is also arranging an open air exhibition to be located beside the historical and artistic monuments of Rome.
On the evening of September 18th, to celebrate the beginning of EPSC 2010, a Moon Watch Party will take place in the historical centre of Rome. The event, promoted by NASA, will be organized in Italy by INAF with the support of Italian Union of Amateurs Astronomers (UAI).
Media Registration
Media representatives are cordially invited to attend. Press room facilities will be available for the duration of the conference — from 9 am on Monday 20 September through to 3 pm on Friday 24 September. The venue has a wireless network. Media registration is free. Any bona fide media delegates can pre-register online or by e-mailing media.centre@europlanet-eu.org (advance registration is not essential but encouraged).
Europlanet Research Infrastructure
The Europlanet Research Infrastructure (RI) is a major (O6 million) program co-funded by the European Union under the Seventh Framework Program of the European Commission.
Europlanet RI brings together the European planetary science community through a range of Networking Activities, aimed at fostering a culture of cooperation in the field of planetary sciences, Transnational Access Activities, providing European researchers with access to a range of laboratory and field site facilities tailored to the needs of planetary research, as well as on-line access to the available planetary science data, information and software tools, through the Integrated and Distributed Information Service. These programs are underpinned by Joint Research Activities, which are developing and improving the facilities, models, software tools and services offered by Europlanet
Europlanet Project website: www.europlanet-ri.eu
Europlanet Outreach and Media website: www.europlanet-eu.org
INAF
The Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) is the principal the co- organizer of EPSC 2010. INAF is the main Italian Research Institute for the study of the Universe which promotes, implements and coordinates research in these fields both nationally and internationally. INAF is present throughout Italy with 19 research facilities; one of these is the Institute for Interplanetary Space Physics (IFSI) which is located in Rome. IFSI is the main department involved in the event.
INAF website: www.media.inaf.it
