Venus as a System Conference

Conference Location and Dates

The Venus as a System Conference will be held on November 1–3, 2023, in Albuquerque, NM, at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. The conference will be held in person with opportunities for virtual participation.

Purpose and Scope

Understanding Venus fundamentally requires investigating the couplings, feedback, and interactions between disparate planetary systems, such as but not limited to Interior-Tectonics, Atmosphere-Climate, Weathering-Surface, and Interior-Surface.

Venus is enigmatic, often considered Earth’s twin yet currently it is strikingly different due to its thick caustic atmosphere, high surface pressure, and hot dry surface environment. Many fundamental questions remain regarding Venus, from the rate of current and past rates of volcanism to the dominant form of tectonics over time to the nature of atmospheric and surface processes and whether present-day rates are representative of the past. Processes on Venus do not occur in a vacuum. The interior evolution of the planet is coupled to the surface and atmosphere, and vice versa. The chemical evolution of the planet is coupled to the thermal and tectonic evolution. Understanding Venus then requires understanding the linkages between the interior, surface, atmosphere, space environment, and beyond.

The LPI's Venus Science Initiative seeks to consolidate our understanding of Venus, explore new hypotheses, and encourage innovative ways to exploit measurements from the upcoming fleet of spacecraft that will explore Venus in the next decade of discovery. The third conference in this initiative, Venus as a System: Coupled Volcanic, Tectonic, Surface, and Atmospheric Evolution, seeks to highlight the interconnectedness of systems and place individual topics, such as but not limited to those listed below, into the context of holistic planetary evolution.

• Tectonics
• Volcanism
• Convection
• Composition and structure
• Volatiles (past and present)
• Surface states
• Climate
• Atmosphere
• Exosphere

This broadly themed conference will leverage renewed interest and excitement for Venus and provide a forum for the discussion of Venusian data, upcoming missions, suggestions of future mission targets and datasets, and highlight critical gaps in our knowledge. These discussions will serve as the starting point to formulate questions to be asked in the forthcoming decade of Venus.

Indication of Interest

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Code of Conduct

USRA/LPI is committed to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, age, race, religion, or other protected status. We do not tolerate harassment of meeting participants in any form. USRA/LPI expects that all participants will abide by this Code of Conduct, creating an environment free from harassment, discrimination, disruption, incivility, or violence of any kind. We expect participants to exercise consideration and respect in their speech and actions and refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior. Report issues, concerns, or violations of this Code of Conduct directly to USRA/LPI management at USRA-LPI Meetings Code of Conduct. The full USRA/LPI Code of Conduct can be found here.