Workshop on the Science and Challenges of Lunar Sample Return
February 18–19, 2014
Noordwijk, The Netherlands

A workshop on the Science and Challenges of Lunar Sample Return will be held in ESA ESTEC in Noordwijk, The Netherlands on 18-19 February 2014.

The workshop is organised by the Human Spaceflight and Operations Directorate of the European Space Agency (ESA) in cooperation with the NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) and the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Science (IKI).

The workshop is being organised to gather information and opinions from stakeholders in the science and technology communities to inform future studies into lunar sample return missions, most likely to be considered in the frame of international partnerships.

The key objectives are to identify:

• Ways in which Lunar Sample Return will support preparations for future exploration activities
• Scientific priorities and competencies for the analysis of samples and to define objectives for sample return missions
• Requirements that these objectives impose on missions
• Technical challenges of meeting these requirements and potential solutions

The full announcement can be found at http://congrexprojects.com/2014-events/14c05/