Planetary geologic mapping and modelling winter school

The PLANMAP team, in collaboration with europlanet's GMAP initiative, announces the first PLANMAP winter school on planetary geologic mapping and 3D geological modelling, that will be held virtually 1-5 February 2021. The PLANMAP winter school will provide an overview of the technical and scientific skills needed by the next generation of planetary mappers.

The last 20 years of science exploration changed dramatically the technical and scientific skills required to perform planetary geological mapping, so that the required knowledge are continuously evolving. The Planetary geologic mapping and modelling winter school will address the most recent outcomes on the production of planetary cartography, providing the students with the basics needed for map creation, their use for scientific investigation, landing sites characterization, rover mobility and resource exploration.

18 January 2021

First communication to participants

An organizational form will be sent.
Participants are requested to provide detailed information on the real time practical activities they intend to follow.

23 January 2021

Organisational form deadline

The form will be closed at 13 GMT+1

25 January 2021 (delayed due to technical issues)

Final communication to participants

Final details will be sent to participants

1 February 2021

Winter School starts

The school will cover the following topics by hands-on practical sessions and theoretical lessons:

Introduction to the the geological mapping process, from remotely sensed data to mapping standards: downloading, processing and exploration of planetary data from public data hubs

Geology of the three main planetary bodies, Moon, Mars and Mercury: differences, peculiarities and challenges

Age determination of planetary surfaces by means of crater counting

Use of spectral information to improve unit's interpretation and definition

The creation and exploitation of 3D geological models by using publicly available dataset and open source software

Exploring planetary surfaces using Virtual Reality

The school is organized on two different sessions of increasing difficulty plus the Virtual Reality environments for planetary applications and training for astronauts (Cassini workshop) practical workshop. You can choose to independently participate in any of these sessions, but please remember to subscribe to them during the registration process. Subscriptions can be made on the dedicated registration page.

Basic course

Will only require QGIS and other open source tools. It will deal with the basics of planetary mapping on the Moon, Mars and Mercury.

Advanced course

Will require access to some proprietary software and more complex three dimensional modelling software. It will deal with crater chronology, spectral and geomorphological mapping integration and three dimensional geological modelling for planetary studies.

The CASSINI workshop will be freely accessible although with technical limitations. For more information on this event, please see the dedicated web page.

Lecturers and instructors

Lecturers and Instructors have been selected according to their excellence and expertise on the different geological topics needed for planetary geological mapping on different geological bodies.

All the Lecturers and the Instructors are affiliated to the Institution partners of the H2020-PLANMAP project and H2020-EPN GMAP working package, both led by the University of Padua.

Participants requirements

We expect that the participants will be Bachelor, Master and PhD students with little knowledge of GIS environments. No other specific requirement is expected. Most of the activities will be performed using open source tools, installed on the participant personal computer.

Depending on the number of subscribers, the Winter school organizers might perform a selection depending on scientific background and motivation of the participants. This is due to the limited number of instructors and the difficulty of providing successful practical, hands-on sessions by virtual means.

Funding and involved institutions

The courses are co-funded by the H2020-PLANMAP project, the University of Padova and the Europlanet-GMAP infrastructure. The CASSINI practical workshop is co-funded by the Ambassade de France en Italie/Institut français d'Italie and the CISAS-UNIPD and the CASSINI action promoted by the French Embassy in Italy.

Participating institutions are: