EUROPLANET OUTREACH

Welcome to the outreach website for Europlanet Research Infrastructure

The Europlanet Research Infrastructure links more than 100 laboratories in Europe and around the world. The project aims to help planetary scientists get the best out of their research into the Solar System by organising networking activities, meetings and conferences, providing access to laboratories and field sites in Europe, developing new facilities and field sites and creating online access to planetary science data. This site contains information about Europlanet RI aimed at the general public and the media. Europlanet extends a network of key contact points for outreach activities relating to planetary science in Europlanet member countries. Contacts and information on these National Nodes can be found by clicking on the corresponding country flag in the menu bar. For technical information on Europlanet's activities, visit http://www.europlanet-ri.eu/ or contact us.

Coming up

Planetary and Mission Events:

22 May 2012 - NASA Dawn mission leaves asteroid Vesta for asteroid 1 Ceres

6 June 2012 Transit of Venus

6 August 2012 Curiosity rover lands on Mars

2 May 2013 - Launch of NASA LADEE orbiter to the Moon

November 2013 - Launch of NASA's MAVEN Mars Orbiter

May-November 2014 - ESA Rosetta mission rendezvous with Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko

November 2014 - Philae, the lander of ESA's Rosetta mission touches down on Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Planetary Meetings and Conferences (Europe):

20-24 February 2012 - Helmholz Alliance Planetary Evolution and Life 4th Alliance Meeting, DLR, Berlin

5-6 March 2012 - 3rd Europlanet strategic workshop on coordinated ground-based measurements and modeling of the Venus atmosphere - 4th PHC/Sakura France-Japan - Observatoire de Paris, France

19-21 March 2012 - Characterizing stellar and exoplanetary environments via observations and advanced modelling techniques - ISSI/Europlanet NA1 International Space Science Institute, ISSI Bern, Switzerland

29-30 May 2012 - 1st Interplanetary CubeSat Workshop - Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

17-18 April 2012 - Workshop on Ground-based support for Rosetta, UCL, London

24 July - 2 August 2012 - Alpsbach Summer School "Exploration of the Giant Planets and their Systems" - Alpbach/Tyrol, Austria

23-28 September 2012 - European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) 2012, IFEMA-Feria de Madrid, Spain

8-13 September 2013 - European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) 2013, University College London, UK

Outreach/Education Events

4-8 August 2012 - Communicating Science: A National Conference on Education and Public Outreach (124th Annual Meeting of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific)

Europlanet Nodes map

The Transit of Venus 5-6 June

The last Transit of Venus of this century will take place on the 5-6 June. Find out more

Europlanet NA3 Science Communication Training Workshop

July 9-11, 2012 National Observatory of Athens, Greece

24th April - Europlanet Prize awarded to Yaël Nazé

The Belgian scientist and writer, Yaël Nazé, has been awarded the 2012 Europlanet Prize for Excellence in Public Engagement with Planetary Science. While Dr Nazé’s research interests at the University of Liège focus on massive stars, she has looked closer to home – at the Solar System – to inspire young and old and share her love of science.

!!!The new National Node
Newsletter is out!!!

EPSC 2012 - IFEMA Feria de Madrid, Spain, 23 – 28 September

The first announcement and call for sessions has been released for the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) 2012, which will take place in Madrid. The meeting will cover the whole scope of planetary science with typically 50 sessions of different types. For details, see: http://www.epsc2012.eu/

** Jan 2012: New French-language podcast from Le Labo de savoirs recorded at EPSC-DSP Joint Meeting 2011. This issue includes Interviews with Olivier Grasset from University of Nantes, PI of Dawn Mission, Chris Russell, European Dawn researchers, Jean-Philippe Combe and Lucille Le Corre, plus a profile of the Associate Editor of Science Magazine, Maria Cruz.