Parallel sessions

We are currently in a golden era of Mars exploration, and the UK plays key roles in several current space missions to the red planet. These include both the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars missions – the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and the Rosalind Franklin 2022 rover, NASA’s Insight lander and Perseverence rover, and the ongoing ESA Mars Express orbiter and NASA Curiosity rover missions. In addition, plans are emerging for future sample return missions including the ESA-NASA Mars sample return and the JAXA Phobos sample return mission, MMX. The UK has the PI role on PanCam, co-PI roles on Raman (Rosalind Franklin), NOMAD (TGO) and PI on InSight's short-period seismometer, the UK’s first instrument operating on another planet. TGO and Insight have already provided outstanding scientific results, including water isotope and dust distributions in the Mars atmosphere and a methane puzzle, and humankind's first observations of quakes on another planet. Rosalind Franklin will drill up to 2m to hunt for traces of life on Mars, and Perseverence will cache samples for later return to Earth. This session is designed to increase awareness of the UK scientific involvements in current and future Mars missions, at a critical time in Mars exploration before the launch of the Rosalind Franklin rover. Invited talks will cover the main mission involvements from the UK, and we encourage contributions on all aspects of current and future Mars science and exploration.

Schedule:

Session 1
13:00 Hessa Rashid Al Matroushi “Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) Overview and Status”
13:10 Lihui Chai “A brief introduction of the Tianwen-1 mission and its space sciences”
13:20 Jim Bell “The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover mission in Jezero Crater: Early Mission Status and Update”
13:30 John Bridges “Mars Science Laboratory Reaches 3000 sols and Clay-Sulfate Unit Transition in Gale Crater”
13:50 Beatriz Sanchez-Cano “Science results from Mars Express: 17 years of plasma science”
14:00 James Holmes “Science results from the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter”
14:10 Paul Streeter “The asymmetric effects of an equinoctial Global Dust Storm on Mars‚Äô polar vortices”

Session 2
16:00 Jorge Vago “Searching for Signs of Life with the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover”
16:10 Andrew Coates “PanCam: the ‚Äòscience eyes‚Äô of the Rosalind Franklin (ExoMars 2022) rover”
16:20 Javier Martin-Torres “The instrument HABIT (HabitAbility, Brine Irradiation and Temperature) on the ExoMars 2022 platform”
16:30 Sara Russell “The JAXA MMX Mission: A sample return mission to the Mars neighbourhood”
16:40 Monica Grady “The scientific and technological benefits of returning samples from Mars”
16:50 Sue Horne “Mars exploration - UK Space Agency perspective”
17:00 Aine O'Brien “Detection of martian organics on Mars and Earth - comparing meteoritical and rover-based techniques”
17:10 Sara Motaghian “Searching For Meteorites on other worlds: Preparations for ExoMars”
17:20 Steven Banham “Winds of change: a Hesperian record of seasonal to millennial-scale wind fluctuations, recorded in the aeolian Stimson formation sandstones in Gale crater, Mars”