p4355_0d3630bb5c5186f5eb999f463041e820Logo-CNES-horizontal-bleu-300logo_MarcoPolo-R

17-18 December 2012

« Salle ESPACE » Head Quarters of CNES in Paris downtown, France
(near Les Halles), very easily accessible by train from Paris airport:

Click here for directions

Hôtels can be found using searching tools like booking.com and looking around Les Halles
(click here)

The MarcoPolo-R mission (click here to access the mission science web site), selected for an assessment study at ESA, plans to sample a primitive asteroid and return material to Earth for detailed scientific investigation (Click here to access the ESA website).

The mission has been selected by ESA in February 2011 for the assessment study phase of M3 (Medium) Class missions. The study report (called Yellow Book) will have to be submitted by the Science Study Team by September 2013. ESA will then select at the end of 2013 the M3 mission to be launched in 2022-2024. Thus it is timely to show that the cosmochemistry community, especially in Europe, is very much interested in this type of sample return mission, and to demonstrate the excellence of science that will be allowed by such a mission.

The goal of the workshop is to have a
forum for scientists involved in past and future sample return missions and those who have a keen interest in deciphering the history of the solar system. We aim to gather PIs of past and future sample return missions, cosmochemists involved in the analysis of extra-terrestrial samples returned by space missions and/or meteorites, micrometeorites and IDPs as well as those engaged in modelling the early Solar System.

The maximum room capacity is about 120-140 participants. We would very much appreciate if you could support this meeting, and we seek presentations on :
- the achievements of past sample return missions (i.e. Stardust, Hayabusa)
- the latest advances in understanding from primitive materials
- the scientific challenges of sample return missions

We anticipate that the discussion at this meeting will provide a major springboard to really focus the scientific arguments required to propel Marco Polo-R successfully through the next ESA selection process.

The workshop will consist in invited and contributed talks, plus discussions. Please let us know if you would like to give a talk. The Program will be posted when ready.

The registration is closed. If somebody wants to check whether seats are still available please contact: francoise.bollard at obspm.fr and antonella.barucci at obspm.fr. We hope to see you at this workshop. Please check regularly this web site for further information (announcements will also be sent to the potential participants who manifest an interest).