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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS October 4–5, 2001 _____________________ Hosted by The Field Museum |
MEETING ORGANIZERS
Mark Robinson, Northwestern University
G. Jeffrey Taylor, University of Hawai'i
SPONSORED BY
Lunar and Planetary Institute
The Field Museum
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Mark Robinson, Northwestern University
Paul Spudis, Lunar and Planetary Institute
Jim Slavin, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Sean Solomon, Carnegie Institution
Marty Slade, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Ann Sprague, University of Arizona
G. Jeffrey Taylor, University of Hawai'i
Faith Vilas, NASA Johnson Space Center
Meenakshi Wadhwa, The Field Museum
Thomas Watters, National Air and Space Museum
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PURPOSE AND SCOPE
Mariner 10 gave the first close-up look of
Mercury over 25 years ago by imaging one hemisphere of
the planet and measuring its space environment.
Initial results from this mission showed Mercury to have
a heavily cratered surface with younger superposed plains, a complex history of tectonic deformation,
and a magnetic field. Since then, many new
discoveries about Mercury have appeared, utilizing not only
the Mariner 10 data, but also exciting results
obtained from Earth-based remote sensing: Ionic species
have been identified in the mercurian exosphere,
unusual radar reflective deposits in the polar regions
have been found, and large-scale radar morphologic features are seen in the unimaged hemisphere. It
is the intent of this meeting to bring together
representatives from diverse scientific disciplines to foster
a broader understanding of Mercury as planet —
its space environment, surface, and interior. Such
a meeting should be of interest not only to
Mercury enthusiasts, but also to scientists interested in
the broader topics of solar system formation and
comparative planetology. Mercury is an endmember terrestrial planet in terms of proximity to the
Sun, density, and size and therefore holds
important information regarding planetary formation in
the early solar system. Thus a broad synthesis of
Mercury science is anticipated to serve a wide
scientific community.
There has not been a meeting dedicated to Mercury in nearly 15 years, despite the large strides made in mercurian science over the past decade. No spacecraft has visited Mercury since Mariner 10; however, both NASA (MESSENGER) and ESA (Bepi-Columbo) intend to send orbiters by the end of this decade. The time is right to bring together current Mercury science in context of these upcoming missions to Mercury.
MEETING FORMAT
The intent of the meeting is to bring new
results concerning Mercury to a single forum through
both oral and poster presentations. There will be a
few invited talks, but the bulk of the conference
will consist of contributed talks. Poster presentations
will be given high visibility through short summary
talks in appropriate sessions, as well as ample
viewing times on Thursday evening. Abstracts may cover
(but are not limited to) the following topics relating
to Mercury:
- Surface geology including tectonic, volcanic, and impact processes
- Earth-based surface spectral measurements and space weathering
- Migration, deposition, and preservation of volatiles at the poles
- Identification and sources of exospheric ions
- Constraints on size and composition of the core
- Bulk composition of the crust and mantle
- Magnetic field and near-space environment
- Modeling of Mercury's formation
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