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Background

Phobos and Deimos are the two natural satellites of Mars; only Earth and Mars have natural satellite(s) among terrestrial rocky planets in our solar system. As we have learned much more about our Earth through extensive researches on Moon, we will also learn more about Mars from its satellites. In addition, since Mars is the outermost rocky planet, the origin and evolution of the Mars-satellite system should have been greatly influenced by the dynamics of gas giant planets such as Jupiter and Saturn. Therefore, Phobos and Deimos have potential for us to understand how rocky planets formed, and how and when volatiles were supplied to the rocky planets. Recently, JAXA selected a Martian moon's sample return mission (MMX: Mars Moon eXploration). The spacecraft is scheduled to be launched in the early 2020s, orbits Phobos and Deimos, and retrieves and returns samples from Phobos back to Earth in the late 2020s. For more information, please see the document used for International Review (Nov. 2nd, 2015).

Objective

This workshop will be the first international workshop for Phobos and Deimos in Japan. The objectives of this workshop are to share knowledge of the Mars-satellite system, to explore their origin and evolution, and to discuss what big pictures we should obtain by exploring them.

・Origin of Phobos and Deimos (capture or impact origin or others?)
・Evolutionary processes on Phobos and Deimos (impacts, weathering, and Mars effects?)
・Spectral characteristics of Phobos and Deimos (red and blue?)
・Internal structures of Phobos and Deimos (how can we investigate?)
・Analysis of extraterrestrial materials (toward sample return from Phobos and/or Deimos)
・Mars science from Phobos and Deimos (what do they tell us about Mars?)
・Water delivery to the inner-solar system (what did Mars and moons witness?)

Program

Scientific Program (Final version)

Location

ELSI Hall, ELSI-1 Building, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Access to ELSI.

Banquet

February 15th, 2016. Banquet fee: JPY 4000 (expected)

Deadlines

Registration for Presentation (January 25th)
Registration for Participation (February 1st)

Invited Speakers

Jean-Pierre Bibring (IAS)
Sébastien Charnoz (Université Paris Diderot)
Ted L. Roush (NASA Aims)
Pascal Rosenblatt (Royal Observatory of Belgium)
Richard Greenwood (Open Univ.)
Daniel J. Scheeres (Univ. Colorado)
Konrad Willner (DLR)

Contact

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions: pdmw-soc@ml.elsi.jp

Science Organizing Committee

Hidenori Genda (ELSI/Tokyo Tech.)
Masaki Fujimoto (JAXA/ELSI)
Hirdy Miyamoto (Univ. Tokyo)
Tomoki Nakamura (Tohoku Univ.)
Tomohiro Usui (Tokyo Tech.)