Dear colleagues,
The first open ExoMars 2018 Landing Site Selection Workshop (LSS WS#1) will be held at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), close to Madrid, on 26–28 March 2014.
If you are planning to take part, here is some important information. Please read it carefully.
Hotel and Transport:
The meeting will use the entire three days. We have made a block reservation at a hotel in Madrid. Please make your own booking, before 28 February 2014, using the following link:
After 28 February we cannot guarantee hotel availability, so please be sure you book in time (add a reminder in your computer). In case you want to extend your stay beyond the workshop, please contact the hotel directly.
You do not need to worry about local transportation, as each day buses will take participants from the hotel to ESAC and back.
Workshop Organisation:
As you know, landing site proposals are due on 28 February 2014.
Depending on how many proposals we receive, we will need to adapt the agenda for the meeting.
For now our plans are to cover the following:
Sol 1:
Morning — Introductory presentations:
1) LSS process;
2) ExoMars 2018 science: What are the objectives? What can the Rover and Surface Platform do? How does this translate into LS requirements?
3) Description of the ExoMars 2018 landing system;
4) Engineering constraints for safe landing and surface operations;
5) Proposals: How many did we receive, show them on a Mars map;
6) Proposals: General first impressions; how well do they fit the bill?
Afternoon — Landing Sites
Teams present their landing site, questions to presenters.
The time for each presentation will depend on how many proposals we receive.
Sol 2:
Whole day — Landing Sites
Teams present their landing site, questions to presenters.
The time for each presentation will depend on how many proposals we receive.
Sol 3:
Whole day — Discussion of various sites.
Which are the best ones in terms of accessibility to ancient biomarkers?
Which are the sites that provide the best science and engineering constraints match?
Discussion.
Participants expression of interest for the various sites deemed to be (potentially) compliant (voting).
Next steps to be undertaken by the Landing Site Selection Working Group (LSSWG).
Conclusions.
Looking forward to seeing you in Madrid,
Jorge Vago
Daniel Rodionov