The Geology and Planetary mapping winter school

Matteo Massironi (1) , Angelo Pio Rossi (2) , Luca Penasa (1) , Riccardo Pozzobon (3) , Gloria Tognon (3) , Jack Wright (4) , Carolyn van Der Bogert (5) , Francesca Zambon (6) , Valentina Galluzzi (6) , Gwénaël Caravaca (7) , Stéphane Le Mouélic (7)

1 Dipartimento di Geoscienze [Padova]
2 Jacobs University [Bremen]
3 CISAS - Centro di Ateneo di Studi e Attività Spaziali “Giuseppe Colombo”
4 School of Physical Sciences - Open University
5 Institut für Planetologie [Münster]
6 IAPS - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali - INAF
7 LPG - Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique [UMR 6112]

In 2021, between 1-5 February, the University of Padua coordinated the 1st edition of the Geology and Planetary mapping virtual school (https://www.planetarymapping.eu/), which involved more than 150 participants spread all over the world and more than 50 instructors from at least 9 European institutions. In planetary exploration programs, geological maps are crucial for science investigation, safe landing and roving, exploration of in situ resources, astronauts’ safety, planning of stable settlements, identification of sites which might suffer biological contamination. Hence, any planetary mission which does not foresee the production of geological maps is a mission whose aims are at serious risk. To be prepared for the exponential increase of planetary missions in the years to come it is indeed needed that geological maps start to be produced worldwide, being at the moment the United State Geological Survey the only institute able to produce such maps on a regular basis. For this reason, the European project PLANMAP and the GMAP action within the EUROPLANET infrastructure have been devoted to foster the production of innovative geological maps in support of future European missions to planetary bodies. Both these activities are led by the Department of Geoscience of the University of Padua around which different institutions are collecting to form a European network for planetary geological map production. A pivotal aim of the network is to prepare the next generation of planetary scientists to face the challenges of future planetary missions and for sure geological mapping is one of the main tools to successfully overcome them. However, the results obtained in the last 20 years of science exploration are changing dramatically the technical and scientific procedures to perform geological mapping, so that the topic is continuously evolving, and the teaching strategy need to be continuously renewed and re-focused. The geology and planetary mapping winter school wanted to address the most recent outcomes on the production of planetary geological mapping.

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Earth Sciences; Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Earth Sciences; Planetology; Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Earth Sciences; Stratigraphy

Matteo Massironi, Angelo Pio Rossi, Luca Penasa, Riccardo Pozzobon, Gloria Tognon, et al.. The Geology and Planetary mapping winter school. 2021 Annual Meeting of Planetary Geologic Mappers, NASA-USGS, Jun 2021, Online, United States. ⟨hal-03922889⟩