40th ESLAB Symposium

First International Conference on

Impact Cratering in the Solar System

08-12 May 2006, Noordwijk (NL)

Proceedings submission deadline: 30th June

Final Announcement

When and where:

The First International Conference on Impact Cratering in the Solar System will be held on 08-12 May 2006, at the ESTEC establishment of ESA in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, E.U. This is the first conference with such broad range of topics, dealing with all impact cratering aspects on Earth and Solar System bodies.

Purpose:

Impact cratering is the most common geological process in the Solar System. In the framework of comparative planetology, to optimise the scientific return from the fleet of ESA missions to the terrestrial planets (Mars Express, Venus Express, Smart-1 and BepiColombo) and to foster collaborations between the Planetary and Earth Sciences communities, ESA is providing a forum for a timely discussion of scientific investigations in the diverse field of impact cratering in the Solar System.

Following the very successful series of international conferences focusing on catastrophes in the Earth’s history (“Snowbird” series) and on large meteorite impacts (“Sudbury” series), together with dedicated sessions at major annual planetary geosciences events, such as the LPSC in Houston, the impact cratering community in Europe has repeatedly expressed the need for a different and complementary kind of meeting, including all aspects of impact cratering, to be held in Europe. ESA can thus help in this respect.

The proposed conference embraces numerous disciplines existing today related to the study of impact craters and addressing geological, geochemical, geophysical, astronomical and biological aspects of impact cratering processes, including results from space missions such as Deep Impact. Also, this new type of conference gives the opportunity to young European scientists to foster fruitful collaborations both within a European and a worldwide context.

Scope:

Sessions on the following topics will take place:

• S01: Asteroids, comets and impact flux
• S02: Planetary chronology and the late heavy bombardment
• S03: Craters on Moon, Mercury and satellites
• S04: Craters on Mars and Venus
• S05: Terrestrial impact craters and impact petrology
• S06: Drilling of terrestrial impact craters
• S07: Chicxulub: new geophysical studies
• S08: Physics and chemistry of impact cratering
• S09: Computer simulations
• S10: Laboratory experiments
• S11: Space missions
• S12: Catastrophes and extinctions
• S13: Life survival and evolution
• S14: Impacts and habitability of terrestrial planets

Registration:

The registration fee includes social dinner, abstract materials, conference bag, coffee during breaks and drinks and snacks during poster sessions, as well as transportation from Noordwijk to Estec and back.

Registration fees:

The registration page is available here.

Presentations

Keynote oral presentations will last 30 minutes. Contributed oral presentations will last 15 minutes including discussion. A Windows PC will be used in the conference room. If your presentation is prepared on a Mac, please check the compatibility with a PC before uploading it.

The maximum available space for posters will be: 180 cm (height) x 120 cm (width).

Programme:

The oral session programme is available on this page. The poster session programme is available on this page. Abstracts will also be available on the same pages.

Field Trip:

There will be a 1 day fieldrip (Sat. 13 May) to the caves of the Geulhemmerberg, Limburg, where the Cretaceous / Tertiary (K/T) boundary is cropping out.

The programme for the fieldtrip is available here.

The fieldtrip registration fee to be paid on site at ESTEC is 50 € , and it includes light lunch, drinks and transportation to/from the caves of the Geulhemmerberg.

Background information on the caves is available at this page.

The excursion leader will be Jan Smit (Vrij Universiteit, Amsterdam).

The number of participants is limited to a minimum of 10 and a maximum of approximately 50.

Scientific Committee:

The international Scientific Commitee of the conference is composed of:

• Nadine Barlow, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA
• Agustin Chicarro, European Space Agency, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, EU
• Charles Cockell, Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, EU
• Marcello Coradini, European Space Agency, Paris, France, EU
• Kate Fishbaugh, ISSI, Bern, Switzerland
• Boris Ivanov, Institute for Dynamics Geospheres, Moscow, Russia
• Christian Koeberl, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, EU
• Takafumi Matsui, ,University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
• Alessandro Morbidelli, Observatory of Nice, Nice, France, EU
• Gerhard Neukum, Freie Universiteit, Berlin, Germany EU
• Gordon Osinski, Canadian Space Agency, Montreal, Canada
• Elisabetta Pierazzo, Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona, USA
• Jeff Plescia, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, Maryland USA
• Wolf Uwe Reimold, Berlin Museum for Natural History, Berlin, Germany, EU
• Rita Schulz, European Space Agency, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, EU
• Jan Smit, Vrij Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, EU
• Hakan Svedhem, European Space Agency, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, EU

Proceedings:

The conference proceedings will be published as ESA Special Publication No. 612 (on CD-ROM) quickly after the the conference.

Author instructions are available in .pdf or .doc format.

In addition, a dedicated issue of an international scientific journal under full peer review will be arranged after the conference.

Schedule:

Travel Grants:

Partial travel support will be available for a limited number of worldwide students and Eastern European senior scientists. Individuals will then be contacted by Mid April. Accepted grant applications will be paid cash at the conference.

Travel grant requests will only be considered when an accompanying abstract has been accepted for either a contributed oral or a poster presentation.

Accomodation and logistics:

Noordwijk has many possibilities of accomodation, including hotels and pensions.

A list of hotels and contacts, including booking information is available on this page

Further information on local accomodation is available at: Noordwijk tourist information page. For those looking for an accomodation in Leiden, hotels are listed on Leiden tourist information page

A shuttle bus service will be available from a central location in Noordwijk to ESTEC. Information on the shuttle bus is available on this page

Presentations available on-line:

All presentations (pdf files) will be posted on the conference website after each session, to foster collaboration among participants and keep a comprehensive record of the conference for future reference. Therefore, all presenters are expected to provide their presentations (PowerPoint only) to the organizers.

Local Organizing Committee:

• Clare Bingham
• Agustin Chicarro
• Angelo Pio Rossi
• Rita Schulz
• Gerhard Schwehm
• Hakan Svedhem
• Olivier Witasse

For further information regarding the format and scientific objectives of the meeting, please contact: