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Meeting Planning Services

Important Information About Flights and Lodging

Participants are strongly advised to make reservations and book flights as early as possible, regardless of the accommodation venue. January is the peak of tourist season in Ushuaia, and hotels and other accommodations will fill up quickly. For more details, please see the Flights and Travel and Lodging tab.

Meeting Location and Dates

We are happy to announce the Seventh International Conference on Mars Polar Science and Exploration scheduled for January 13–17, 2020 in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, with the support of the Centro Austral de Investigaciones Cientificas (CADIC). The conference sessions will be held at Sala Niní Marshall, located at Malvinas Argentinas 265, 9410 Ushuaia – Tierra del Fuego – Argentina, a 10-minute walk from the CADIC facilities.

Tierra del Fuego was chosen as the site of the conference with the goal of expanding the Mars polar community to researchers in South America and because of its proximity to unique polar geomorphic terrains, including quaternary glacial landscapes, cirque and piedmont glacier moraines, and the features and landscape shaped by the large discharge glaciers of the South Patagonian Ice Cap during different glaciation periods.

CADIC is the southernmost scientific research facility outside of Antarctica, and it will host the ICMPSE in the southern hemisphere for the first time since the conference was conceived. Expert guidance from local scientists at CADIC will assist in the organization of a multi-day, post-conference field trip along with options for a one-day, mid-conference field trip.

Purpose and Scope

The Seventh International Conference on Mars Polar Science and Exploration is the latest in a continuing series of conferences intended to promote the exchange of knowledge and ideas regarding the polar regions of Mars. This group is international and interdisciplinary, and we welcome any interested scientist with relevant theoretical, experimental, or field experience.

The conference is designed to highlight and define the current state of Mars polar research, pulling together expertise from many fields, including geology, atmospheric science, and climate science. Primarily, the aim is to focus on advances made since the sixth conference, and to give attendees the opportunity to share their research with like-minded colleagues. The focus will also be on terrestrial analogs that can enhance our interpretation of remote sensing data from Mars, and on concepts for future missions. Several optional field trips during and after the conference will highlight the beauty of Tierra del Fuego and southern Patagonia and its relevance as a terrestrial analog to the polar and ice-populated regions of Mars. With the overarching goal of fully understanding the polar environments on Mars and contributing to the advance of planetary science, we will synthesize outstanding questions and developments in a publication dedicated to the results of this conference.

Another goal of this conference is to define options and science priorities for future missions and to serve as an important resource for scientists wishing to develop instruments, propose spacecraft, or participate as members of a science team in response to future Announcements of Opportunity. During the technical sessions, outstanding questions and methods to address them will be recorded and published at a later date. There will be time dedicated to preparing for the upcoming Decadal Survey, and for discussion of white papers leading up to that process.

 

Note: All electronic submission forms are part of the Meeting Portal, which requires users to set up a personal profile to access our electronic forms (setting up a profile is quick and easy, requiring only a few minutes of your time).