The Joint Meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress and the Division for Planetary Sciences (EPSC-DPS) 2011 will take place at La Cite Internationale des Congres Nantes Metropole, Nantes, France, from Sunday 2 October to Friday 7 October 2011.

Media representatives are cordially invited to attend. Press room facilities will be available for the duration of the conference — from 9 a.m. on Monday 3 October through to 3 p.m. on Friday 7 October. The venue has a wireless network. Media registration is free. Any bona fide media delegates can register online by e-mailing anita.heward@europlanet-eu.org or reddy@space.edu (advance registration is not essential but encouraged).

Press briefings will be held daily from 12:15 to 13:15 CEST and will be webcast over the Internet. All findings are embargoed until the time of presentation at the meeting. ‘Time of presentation’ means the start time of the Oral or Poster paper session in which the paper will be given, or the time of the corresponding press conference (if any), whichever comes first.

Provisional schedule for the press briefings:

Monday 3 October — New results from the Dawn mission at Vesta

Tuesday 4 October — New results from EPOXI at Hartley-2; New results from Kepler; Makemake: a truly exotic TNO; The snows of Enceladus

Wednesday 5 October — Mercury after six months of MESSENGER orbital observations; Current status of BepiColombo

Thursday 6 October — New results from Venus Express; A detailed view of the (93) Minerva triple asteroid system; The formation of Uranus and its satellites

Friday 7 October — New results from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter; (596) Scheila: a probable collision in the main asteroid belt; The surface composition of asteroid Lutetia

There will be a French language press conference on Thursday 6 October from 14:30 to 15:30 CEST. This will also be webcast.

There will be a chat room for journalists to allow remote participants to ask questions. Please note that we cannot guarantee that all questions submitted via the chat room will be asked aloud (this will depend on the timings and the number of questions asked by journalists on-site). If you would like to register for the webcast and chat room, please contact anita.heward@europlanet-eu.org or reddy@space.edu.

Light snacks and refreshments will be available during briefings for registered members of the press on site.

The EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2011 represents the first cooperation between the Europlanet Research Infrastructure and the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society. The meeting is being organized in association with the European Geosciences Union and with the support of the Universite de Nantes. More than 1,700 abstracts for oral presentations and posters have been submitted for the meeting.

Details of the congress can be found at the official website: http://meetings.copernicus.org/epsc-dps2011/

EPSC-DPS 2011 will provide a platform for the worldwide planetary sciences community to exchange and present results, develop new ideas and network. It will have a distinctively interactive style, with an extensive mix of talks, workshops and posters, intended to provide a stimulating environment for the community to meet. The meeting will cover the entire scope of the planetary sciences, as well as outreach relating to planetary research and events, e.g. the transit of Venus in 2012.

Detailed scientific program: http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/epsc-dps2011/sessionprogramme

Session overview: http://www.europlanet-eu.org/outreach/images/stories/ep/epsc-dps2011schedule.pdf

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EUROPLANET

The Europlanet Research Infrastructure is a major (O6 million) program co-funded by the European Union under the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission.

The Europlanet Research Infrastructure 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 program are underpinned by Joint Research Activities, which are developing and improving the facilities, models, software tools and services offered by Europlanet

Europlanet Project website: http://www.europlanet-ri.eu

Follow @europlanetmedia on Twitter

DPS

The Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) is the largest organization of professional planetary scientists in the world. The DPS was formed in 1968 as a sub-organization within the AAS devoted to solar system and extrasolar planet research. Today it is the largest special interest Division of the AAS.

DPS website: http://dps.aas.org

Contacts:
Anita Heward
Europlanet Press Officer
+44 (0)7756 034 243
anita.heward@europlanet-eu.org

Vishnu Reddy
DPS Press Officer
+49 555 157 875 796 23
reddy@space.edu