COSPAR logo

COSPAR Capacity Building Workshop 2009

 

LUNAR AND PLANETARY SURFACE SCIENCE

September 6 ~19, 2009 -- Harbin, China

COSPAR Capacity Building Workshop

The workshops are intended to enhance the scientific capability of developing countries by meeting the following objectives:

  1. to increase knowledge and use of public archives of space data in order both to broaden the scope of research programmes in developing countries and also to ensure that scientists in them are aware of the full range of facilities which are available to them and which are also used by scientists in the developed countries,
  2. to provide highly-practical instruction in the use of these archives and the associated publicly-available software so that participants on returning home can readily incorporate them into their research programmes, and
  3. to foster personal links between participants and experienced scientists attending the workshops to contribute to reducing the isolation often experienced by scientists in developing countries.

The individual scientists who participate, and the scientific and wider communities of which they are a part will be the prime beneficiaries of this programme, but the value of a real scientific participation in high-profile space missions for countries which cannot themselves build space hardware should also not be under-estimated. The data analysis phase of nearly all space missions is effort-limited so the missions themselves will also benefit from the greater participation that will result.

LUNAR AND PLANETARY SURFACE SCIENCE

luarsurface

The First Lunar Surface Picture of Chang'e-1

 

The actual planetary missions to which the workshop should be associated will be the ESA comet mission Rosetta (with emphasis on the lander probe Philae and its instruments) and various actual Mars missions.

The purpose of the training is to promote the development of missions devoted to planetary surface research (including comets, asteroids, the Moon, Mars, and to a minor extent the icy satellites in the outer solar system) in the development countries who plan such missions (or have a high interest to get involved). This is particularly India and China. Although the workshop would be performed in Harbin/China it should be equally open to participants from India, China and other developing contries, as these countries are presently most involved in planning (particularly lunar) exploration and lander missions.

COSPAR INITIATIVE

COSPAR's programme of Capacity Building Workshops is now in its tenth time. Workshops have been held as follows,

- Regional Workshop on Space Optical and UV Astronomy, 1 - 14 June 2008, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

- Regional Workshop on Space Astrophysics with the Swift, Chandra, and XMM/Newton Missions: A High-Energy Data-processing School for Young Physicists and Astronomers from North Africa and the Middle East, 19 January - 1 February 2008, Alexandria, Egypt.

- Regional Workshop on Planetary Science, 23 July - 3 August 2007, Montevideo, Uruguay.

- Regional Workshop for Space Physicists from Central and Eastern Europe: Solar-Terrestrial Interactions: Instrumentation and Techniques (STIINTE), 4-16 June 2007, Sinaia, Romania.

- Regional Workshop for African Oceanographers: Ocean Remote Sensing: a Tool for Ocean Science and Operational Oceanography, 19 - 30 September 2005, Rabat, Morocco.

- Regional Workshop for African Astronomers and Space Scientists: Data Processing from the Chandra and XMM-Newton Space Missions: An Advanced School for Multi-wavelength Astrophysics, 28 June - 9 July 2004, Durban, South Africa.

- Regional Workshop for Space Physicists from South-East Asia: Analysis of Data from Multisatellite Magnetospheric Missions, 3 - 14 May 2004, Beijing, China.

- Regional Workshop for Asia-Pacific Astronomers: Data Processing from the Chandra and XMM-Newton Space Missions: An Advanced School for Astronomers Working at all Wavelengths, 13 - 24 January 2003, Udaipur, India.

- Regional Workshop for Latin American Astronomers: Data Processing from the Chandra and XMM-Newton Space Missions: An Advanced School for Astronomers Working at all Wavelengths, 4 - 13 December 2001, S?o Jos¨¦ dos Campos, SP - Brazil.

 

WORKSHOP SPECIFIC GOALS

  1. Train scientists in the techniques required to design instruments for measuring surface and subsurface properties in situ and to evaluate the data they produce in terms of physics.
  2. Train scientists and space engineers in designing planetary surface investigation tools, with emphasis to the lunar applications.
  3. Train scientists and engineers in mission design and navigation techniques.
    4. Lay foundations for possible post-workshop research collaborations.