| Session Details | |
| Section | PS - Planetary Sciences |
| Session Title | Aeronomy and Plasma Physics of Planetary Environments |
| Main Convener | Dr. Robert Lillis (University of California Berkeley, United States) |
| Co-convener(s) | Dr. Jun Cui (Sun Yat-sen University, China) Dr. Dominique Delcourt (French National Centre for Scientific Research, France) Dr. Shotaro Sakai (The University of Tokyo, Japan) Prof. Varun Sheel (Physical Research Laboratory, India) |
| Session Description | This session focuses on the near-space neutral and ionized environments of solar system objects except Earth. Thermospheres, ionospheres and exospheres are affected by their source regions below (lower atmospheres where they are substantial or surface processes for “airless” bodies) and by their interaction with flowing plasma from above (e.g. the solar wind or giant planet magnetospheric plasma). A variety of scientific missions, past and present, are dedicated to analysis of planetary environments. This wealth of new data, as well as increasingly sophisticated modeling capabilities, have driven great advances over the last two decades in our understanding of the structure, variability, composition and dynamics of (and connections between) planetary thermospheres, ionospheres, exospheres and magnetospheres. For example, we are starting to elucidate the complex two-way coupling between surfaces and surface-bound exospheres, between thermospheres and ionospheres, between photochemically-dominated collisional ionospheres and transport-dominated upper ionospheres, and between all these regions and the highly variable solar wind. We invite contributions concerning airless bodies such as Mercury (Messenger), Earth’s moon (LP, ARTEMIS, Kaguya, Chang’e), the Jovian moons (Galileo), Kuiper Belt Objects (New Horizons) and asteroids (Dawn), as well as bodies with substantial atmospheres such as Venus (PVO, Vex), Mars (MGS, MEx, MAVEN), Titan (Cassini), comets (Rosetta) and the giant planets (Cassini, , Galileo, Juno). Both data-focused and modeling studies (and those which combine the two) are encouraged. Comparative studies are particularly welcome, as are presentations on planned future missions which address the goal of understanding and characterizing planetary near-space environments. Both solicited and contributed talks will be included. |