LPI logo

Meeting Planning Services

LPI Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility
Menu

Call for Abstracts

Introduction and Context

Our understanding of Mars has advanced dramatically over the last 25 years as a result of a remarkable period of concentrated scientific exploration. It is important to step back periodically and review these accomplishments. The Ninth International Conference on Mars will be an ideal opportunity to assess and consolidate our current understanding of Mars, given recent discoveries and research advances, and to consider the next steps in Mars exploration for the international community. Highlighting the paradigm-changing discoveries and progress on primary science questions will also provide guidance for the upcoming U.S. Planetary Science Decadal Survey for the next decade of Mars exploration (2023–2032).

Contributions in all areas of Mars science are encouraged. We welcome data-driven abstracts and reports on major findings, but are especially interested in abstracts that synthesize and integrate knowledge from various disciplines and across different data sets as a means of identifying the compelling science objectives for the next stage of Mars scientific exploration. The scope of the conference encompasses Mars-related modeling; theoretical studies; martian meteorite analysis; orbiter, rover, and lander data analysis; Earth analog research; laboratory-based experiments; and Earth-based telescopic observations of Mars. While contributions on potential future missions or instruments that could be sent to Mars are also welcome, the focus of the conference will be on scientific results and on the outstanding science questions that should drive future scientific efforts at Mars.

For this conference we will use a mix of plenary talks, parallel oral sessions, and multiple poster sessions. The specific topical focus of the oral sessions and plenary presentations will be based on key ideas and themes that arise from the submitted abstracts. As in the past, the poster sessions will be a significant part of the conference, as a majority of the technical content of the conference will be there, including some of its most important presentations.

We anticipate highlighting a few special items at Ninth Mars and are encouraging submissions related to:

  • Recent Discoveries:  This will highlight what the new missions, TGO and InSight, are revealing about Mars, plus recent discoveries by other operating missions (e.g., MSL in the clay unit).
  • The Legacy of the Mars Exploration Rovers:  This celebrates the incredible journeys, now completed, of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers and provides a forum to discuss past and ongoing analyses of what their data tell us about Mars.
  • Views from Above and Below:  What have we learned from integrating orbital and landed results?
  • The Promise of Future Missions:  This focuses on what may be learned from missions now in development, including the caching Mars 2020 Rover in Jezero-NE Syrtis, the ExoMars Rover and its Surface Platform in Oxia Planum, the UAE Hope orbiter, and the Mars Moon explorer (MMX).


The following topic categories will be listed on the abstract submission form and are solely intended to help the program committee with its review process and organization of sessions. The topics of interest below fall into the general MEPAG Goal Categories of Life, Climate, Geological Sciences, and Preparations for Humans. However, a key goal of the conference is to avoid compartmentalizing what is known about Mars, but to see how the data, modeling, laboratory work, and analyses can be combined together to address broader cross-cutting science themes. Please keep that in mind when composing your abstracts, and this will be facilitated by selecting your primary and secondary categories. 

Key Topics of Interest

  • The search for life on Mars
    • Assessing ancient and modern habitability of Mars
    • Lessons relevant to Mars gleaned from the search for evidence of early life on Earth, including lessons in preservation
    • Organics on Mars: Potential sources, sinks, and controls on preservation
    • Potential biosignatures: seeking the signs of past or present life
    • Strategies for understanding the possibility of pre-biotic chemistry
  • The current state and history of the Martian climate
    • The history of surface volatiles, including evolution of the polar regions, atmosphere, and climate, and loss to space or to the subsurface and under different obliquity/stability conditions
    • Surface/subsurface ice on modern Mars:  Distribution, sequestration, preservation, alteration and exchange
    • Modeling the current climate, atmospheric dynamics; understanding the water, dust, and CO2 cycles
    • Understanding/modeling past climates:  Nature and change of the ancient climate:  How wet, how warm, how dry, how continuous?
    • Atmospheric domains and processes:  Neutral atmosphere, tides and waves, ionosphere, magnetosphere, photochemisty, radiative forcing, solar wind interaction
  • Martian geosciences at all scales
    • The evolution of Mars as a solid planet: Accretion, differentiation, thermal, and tectonic evolution
    • The Martian geologic record: Chronology, igneous and sedimentary history, lithologic variation, impact cratering, weathering/erosion, ice-related processes, aeolian processes, dune formation and stability, what has been the effect of obliquity cycle changes (if any) on the above?
    • The Martian geochemical record: surface and near-surface chemistry and mineralogy, aqueous alteration at the surface and subsurface, rock coatings and rinds, surface-atmosphere interactions
    • Present-day surface processes
    • The use of terrestrial analogs to help understand our Martian observations
    • Mars meteorite studies
    • Igneous petrological processes
  • Preparation for Human Exploration of Mars
    • What we need to know before humans arrive and how we can get that information
    • How humans on Mars can advance the scientific understanding of the planet and planetary science in general
    • How do the requirements and possibilities differ for longer vs shorter duration stays?
    • What are the synergies between robotic and human exploration of Mars?
    • Other


Abstracts will be limited to two pages and will be assigned to oral, poster, or print-only presentations. The preliminary program will be available in electronic format and accessible via the conference webpage on June 7, 2019. Authors are limited to submitting one first author abstract. Authors will be notified when the program has been posted and will need to check the online program to find out when and where their abstracts have been scheduled.

Note:  Most abstracts will be presented by poster unless selected for oral presentation by the program committee. Oral presentations will be selected with a preference for those that integrate individual science results, bridging between missions and disciplines, as well as placing results within a larger context and defining the next generation of scientific objectives.

Abstract Deadline — Tuesday, May 7, 2019, 5:00 p.m. U.S. Central Daylight Saving Time (GMT -5)

  • No late abstracts will be accepted, regardless of the reason.
  • Abstracts sent by e-mail will not be considered.
  • Abstracts are limited to two pages.
  • All abstracts must be submitted in PDF format.
  • All abstracts must be submitted in U.S. letter size format (8.5” × 11”) and include a one-inch margin on all four sides; A4 submissions will be rejected by the system.
  • Abstract file sizes must be no larger than 3 MB; larger files will be automatically rejected by the system.
  • If not using the template provided, leave a one-inch margin on all four sides of your document.


Authors are encouraged to start the submission process early so the LPI staff will have time to provide assistance in the event of technical problems. For technical assistance, contact Linda Garcia (281-486-2142), or send an e-mail message to [email protected].

Unable to Produce PDF Files?  Authors who are unable to produce a PDF file may send their source files (must be in Word or PostScript format) to  the LPI no later than April 30, 2019. A PDF file will be created and returned to the author, but it is the author’s responsibility to submit the PDF file by the time of the abstract deadline. Source files should be sent to [email protected].

If you need to revise your abstract (prior to the deadline only):  If you discover an error and need to replace your abstract file, or correct the information submitted on the form, return to the abstract submission portion of the meeting portal and click on the “Update” link that appears next to the title of the abstract you submitted.

Preparation and Submission of Abstracts
Step 1:   Download the appropriate template
Step 2:   Write the abstract (no more than two pages) using the format shown in the template
Step 3:   Create a PDF file (no larger than 3 MB)
Step 4:   Fill out the electronic abstract submission form and upload the abstract file

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).