Introduction

We have now entered a second 'golden age' of planetary exploration, with a host of exciting missions either underway, or due to report back in the next few years. Probes are able to land on planets or descend into their atmospheres, and apply powerful analytical techniques to determine their chemical compositions.

The wealth of chemical information sent back from these missions has stimulated major efforts in laboratory experiments and computational modelling, and created a fascinating area for multidisciplinary exchange around the theme of the chemistry of the planets, encompassing aspects of chemistry (physical, organic and inorganic), physics and astronomy, geology and geochemistry, and exobiology, proving the right conditions for a fruitful Faraday Discussion at the interface of these disciplines.

Furthermore, the recent discovery of water and methane in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet (exoplanet) opens up a whole new and exciting field of planetary chemistry outside of the Solar System.

 

Image Credit: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory

Themes

• Planetary exploration: present and future
• Ground-based and remote experimental techniques for planetary chemistry
• Chemistry of giant exoplanets 
• Chemistry of extraterrestrial atmospheres
• Surface chemistry, surface - atmosphere interactions and volcanism
• Planetary atmospheric aerosols

Co-sponsors

We are grateful to the Société Française d'Astronomie et d'Astrophysique, the Société Chimique de France and the Société Française de Physique for their co-sponsorship support of FD147.

Scientific Committee

Ian Sims (University of Rennes 1, France) (Chair)
Bruno Bézard (Observatoire de Paris-Site de Meudon, France)
André Canosa (University of Rennes 1, France)
Helen Fraser (University of Strathclyde, UK)
John Plane (University of Leeds, UK)
Jonathan Tennyson (University College London, UK)

Local Organising Committee

The local organising committee are based at the University of Rennes 1, France.

Abdessamad Benidar
André Canosa
Robert Georges
Sébastien Le Picard
Ian Sims