NASA’s Planetary Science Division (PSD) hosted a community workshop at NASA headquarters in Washington, DC on February 27–28 and March 1, 2017. Presentations and abstracts from the workshop, as well as video of the oral presentations, can be found at http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/V2050/. This workshop provided PSD with community input on a very long-range vision for planetary science in the future. The workshop gathered leading experts in Solar System planetary science and related disciplines, together with experts in space technologies, to identify potential science goals and enabling technologies that can be implemented by the end of the 2040s and would support the next phase of Solar System exploration.

The charter for the Planetary Science Vision (PSV) 2050 Workshop was to:

  • present a compelling, 35-year science vision within the frame work of the future decades (2020s, 2030s, and 2040s);
  • take the Planetary Science decadal survey as the starting point and build upon it;
  • be science based, with notional technologies and missions;
  • take into account community input through the workshop (papers, posters, presentations);
  • prepare a Vision 2050 Report summarizing the workshop results;
  • deliver report to the Planetary Science Division Director.

The PSV 2050 report will:

  • have a compelling, over-arching planetary science theme for each decade as the next phase in Solar System Exploration;
  • contain one or multiple paths forward (science areas and technologies needed) towards a long-range vision;
  • consider cross-cutting opportunities with other disciplines as well as the larger context of international planetary science and human exploration;
  • be built on science investigations goals, leading to notional missions that achieve the science as appropriate;
  • consider the technology needed to achieve specific goals;
  • identify challenges (e.g.measurement challenges, technology challenges….) that will need early investment to become viable.

This report will not be a mini-decadal survey with recommendations and priorities; nor is it an implementation plan; it is a long-range vision document with options, possibilities and a visionary future.

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