EUROPLANET RI

Europlanet RI, the Europlanet Research Infrastructure, is the four-year follow-on project to EuroPlaNet, a four-year Coordination Action supported by the European Union under the Sixth Framework Programme. The Europlanet RI was launched in January 2009. It is an Integrated Infrastructure Initiative (I3), ie. a combination of Networking Activities, Transnational Access Activities and Joint Research Activities. The project is co-funded by the European Union under the Seventh Framework Programme.

Further information on the Europlanet RI can be found at: www.europlanet-ri.eu/ >>

Comparison of the plasma-spheres of Mars, Venus, and Titan

Workshop, 30 November - 4 December 2009

Last year Europlanet organised a very successful workshop on the ionosphere of Titan, that was preceded by a workshop on Mars, resulting a book: “Mars' Magnetism, and Its Interaction with the Solar Wind”. As a logical continuation of these, comparison of the plasma-spheres of Titan, Mars, and Venus could be one of the focal points of the next meeting. Currently there are three active missions to explore the non-magnetic system objects Mars, Venus, and Titan; namely the MEX, VEX, and Cassini missions. This activity underlines the suggestion for the topics of this workshop the “Comparison of the plasma spheres of Mars, Venus, and Titan”. The objective is to bring together the investigators of the of the different plasma measuring instruments to summarise: what are the main similarities and differences between these objects in the light of current results

The Major Topics are
The upstream plasma environments (special emphasis on the magnetodisk, and on the variable conditions of Saturn; upstream compositions, sources of ionisation)
Summary on ionospheres
The properties of the bow shocks where they exist
The induced magnetic fields, boundaries
Ion composition and electron spectra on the dayside / on the nightside (tail)
Loss processes, pickup
MHD and hybrid models
Special topics

Workshop Convenors

Norbert Krupp, Max Planck Institute for Solar System, Germany, Email:

Ari-Matti Harri, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Finland, Email:

Karoly Szegö, KFKI Res. Inst. for Particle and Nuclear Physics, Hungary, Email:

last update: 27 November 2009