Planetary Science Conference 2026

23 Oct 2026, 09:00 → 24 Oct 2026, 20:00 Europe/Warsaw

Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Wydział Fizyki, Astronomii i Informatyki Stosowanej (Kraków, Poland)

Planetary Science Conference 2026

Scientists and researchers from institutions in Poland and abroad are invited to participate in the scientific sessions of PSC 2026, which will be held on October 23-24, 2026, in Krakow and remotely.

Objectives and scope of the PSC 2026:

• Presentation of current achievements in planetary science

• Development of planetary and space science in Poland and beyond

• Integration of the Polish planetary scientist community

• Strengthening international cooperation in planetary science.

• Topics of interest for submission include, but are not limited to:

• • Planets (apart from Earth), dwarf planets, moons, small objects of the Solar System

  • Exoplanets

  • Current and past planetary missions

  • New methods and tools for future space exploration

  • Laboratory experiments

  • Simulations and theoretical investigations

  • Terrestrial analog studies

  •  

Abstract submission is now open. To submit an abstract, choose 'Call for abstracts' from the side menu. Abstracts are limited to 2000 characters with spaces. The deadline for abstracts submission is September 7, 2026. To see or modify your submitted abstracts, go to 'Call for abstract'. You can modify your abstracts only before the submission deadline. 

The official language of the PSC 2026 is English.

More information is available on the PSC 2026 website: https://mars.uj.edu.pl/

Contact: mars@uj.edu.pl

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Friday 23 October

09:00 → 10:00 Registration for the scientific sessions

10:00 → 10:05 Opening

dr Joanna Kozakiewicz

10:05 → 11:50 Exoplanets, icy moons, asteroids

Convener: Joanna Kozakiewicz (Jagiellonian University)

10:05 TOI-1811: Unveiling a Low-Mass Companion to a Hot Jupiter Through Transit Timing

The formation and migration of hot Jupiters remain open questions in exoplanetary science. Their predominantly isolated architecture provides few direct clues about the dynamical processes responsible for placing giant planets on short-period orbits. Systems in which a hot Jupiter retains a close planetary companion are therefore particularly valuable, as gravitational interactions within such compact architectures can provide observational clues to their dynamical history. We report the characterisation of TOI-1811, a compact two-planet system containing the hot Jupiter TOI-1811 b on a 3.7-day orbit and a low-mass inner planet close to the 2:1 mean-motion resonance. Transit timing measurements reveal dynamical interactions between the two planets, thereby constraining the properties of the low-mass companion despite its shallow transits. TOI-1811 provides a rare example of a hot Jupiter embedded in a compact planetary system and demonstrates the potential of transit timing to uncover low-mass companions to giant planets. Its near-resonant architecture offers an important observational test of models for the formation and dynamical evolution of hot Jupiters.

Speaker: Gracjan Maciejewski (Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu)

10:20 Understand the Geodynamic Drivers and Magmatic Mechanisms of L 98-59 d through Comparative Analysis with Venus and Jupiter’s Moon Io.

L98-59 is an M-dwarf star located about 34.6 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Volans. L98-59 d is an extreme super-Earth exoplanet initially discovered by NASA's TESS in 2019. The JWST and ground-based facilities confirmed it belongs to an entirely new class of molten, sulphur-rich planets.
Volcanism is a critical planetary process that sheds light on internal structure, thermal evolution, volatile cycling, and geodynamics across diverse worlds. While Solar System bodies Venus and Io show volcanic activity driven by internal planetary heat and tidal heating, respectively, the exoplanet L98-59 d offers an important third case for comparative geodynamics beyond our Solar System. On L98-59 d, volcanism does not operate as localised surface eruptions like those seen on Io or Venus. Instead, volcanism manifests as planet-scale magmatism, driven by a deep, persistent, global ocean of molten rock.
This study examines the connections among internal heating, magmatic mechanisms, volatile transport, and atmospheric chemistry by comparing Venus and Io with the inferred properties of L98-59 d, which shows evidence of sulphur-bearing atmospheric species (such as H2S and SO2). Coupled atmosphere-interior models indicate that L98-59 d maintains a persistent magma ocean sustained over billions of years through a combination of tidal heating, strong atmospheric blanketing, and stellar irradiation.
Unlike Venus (mantle convection and stagnant-lid dynamics) or Io (extreme tidal heating from Jupiter), L98-59 d occupies a unique middle ground where a volatile-rich magma ocean acts as an interior storage reservoir that continually outgases sulphur species into its atmosphere. By demonstrating how atmospheric spectroscopy can serve as an indirect probe of interior melting and degassing processes, this comparative approach highlights how principles derived from Solar System analogues can be extended to evaluate the geodynamic diversity and evolution of exoplanetary worlds.

Speaker: Thisari Arunadi Kulathunga (Ceylon Institute of Space Science)

Understand the Geodynamic Drivers and Magmatic Mechanisms of L 98-59 d through Comparative Analysis with Venus and Jupiter’s Moon Io.

10:35 A Computational Model to Generate Artificial L4/L5 Equilibrium States via Auxiliary Mass Systems in the Jovian Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem to Investigate Europa

This research developed a model using a modified CR3BP framework with an additional artificial mass to locate and optimise artificial Lagrange points (L4/L5) in the Jupiter-Europa system, positioning a satellite to investigate Europa. The model evaluates potential system configurations across a parameterised grid of source positions (xA, yA) and the mass ratio of the Artificial mass to the Europa-Jupiter combination. Powell’s hybrid method was used to search for a stable Lagrangian point for Europa and the artificial mass. The satellite was given a small displacement perturbation and integrated over a time interval to verify whether its trajectory remains bounded. A massless spacecraft at position r experiences gravitational attraction from Jupiter, Europa, and the artificial source, balanced by centrifugal acceleration in the rotating reference frame. Static equilibrium points were defined using Powell's hybrid method.

Foundational search & single-grid positioning established the modified CR3BP framework, defining the shifted L4/L5 target geometry and evaluating potential equilibrium configurations across parameterised grids of source positions and artificial mass ratios. A control baseline experiment was conducted with zero artificial mass to verify natural Jupiter-Europa CR3BP dynamics and prove that unassisted natural equilibrium points cannot meet target positioning/stability thresholds.

A two-filter search pipeline was implemented as fast static root-finding discards configurations where the equilibrium point is > 5,000 km from r_target and evaluated orbital dynamics on Stage 1 candidates to determine trajectory excursion limits. This incorporated an initial sanity-check section against known baseline parameters before launching global grid searches to ensure numerical validity. Coarse-to-fine optimisation & minimum mass bound refinement refined the pipeline to determine the global minimum required artificial mass ratio (target <0.01% of Europa's mass).

Speaker: Thinuri Gawesha Rajapaksha (Ceylon Institute of Space Science)

A Computational model to generate artificial L4/L5 states via auxiliary mass systems in the Jovian circular restricted three body problem to investigate Europa

10:50 Surface Heating and Melting of Icy Satellites During Accretion

Icy satellites form by accreting ice-rich planetesimals within the circumplanetary disk of their host planet. Under short accretion timescales, the resulting impact energy can vaporize surface ices, generating a transient water-vapor atmosphere. We present preliminary results of numerical simulations performed to study the heating, melting, and ice-rock separation at the surface of these satellites, incorporating accretion luminosity and the thermal blanketing effect of the water-vapor atmosphere as key surface heating sources. The surface temperature during accretion is determined by the balance between the incoming flux—from accreting planetesimals and the Sun—and the outgoing flux consumed by atmospheric escape and the latent heat of vaporization. The results show significant heating of the satellite surface for short accretion timescales (< 0.1 Ma), which caused ice-rock separation and formation of water-vapor atmosphere.

Speaker: Gurpreet Kaur Bhatia (Maharishi Markandeshwar (Deemed to be University), Mullana)

11:05 Early Thermal Evolution of Psyche

The study of thermal evolution is important for understanding the initial phases of differentiation and formation of metal rich bodies such as 16-Psyche. In this model we analysis the heat generation and thermal evolution of proto-psyche in early phases. This study includes the contribution of short lived radionuclides 26Al and 60Fe, as a significant heat source in early evolution. In addition of short lived radionuclide, the effect of accretion, sintering, porosity and differentiation also includes for determining the interior temperature changed with growth of proto psyche. In this model we use the heat conduction equation with explicit finite difference solution to determine the thermal evolution in early proto-Psyche.

Speaker: Sumit Sankhyan (Maharishi Markandeshwar (Deemed to be University), Mullana, Haryana (India))

11:20 Low-Thrust Accessibility of Near-Earth Object Associations for Multi-Target Missions

Orbital associations of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) can be used to identify groups with similar low-thrust mission accessibility. We present a computational pipeline that links the search for orbital associations with preliminary multi-target mission design. Candidate NEO pairs are first identified using a $k$-nearest-neighbour search based on a KD-tree and then evaluated using the Drummond $D_D$ criterion. Groups of similar orbits are then extracted using an all-pairs similarity check. An orbital-phasing indicator is used to screen these groups and identify transfer opportunities and target sequences.

The selected sequences are first screened using impulsive Lambert transfers. Promising candidates are then analysed using a bounded-acceleration low-thrust propagation model. The main accessibility metrics are mission duration and post-Earth-escape $\Delta V$. Orbital-similarity screening reduces the number of combinations considered in the trajectory search. Even for similar orbits, the required $\Delta V$ can vary considerably with orbital phasing, encounter epochs, and the chosen control parameters.

This helps show which NEO associations are also promising from a mission-design point of view. These groups can then be selected for more detailed trajectory optimisation. The pipeline is currently used for trajectory screening rather than final mission design. Target-body ephemerides are taken from JPL Horizons where available. The trajectories are propagated with adaptive step-size control using DOP853 and are also checked numerically.

Speaker: Arkadiusz Hess (Uniwersytet Warszawski)

11:35 A Scenario-Based Model for Preparedness and Response to Extraterrestrial Natural Hazards in Central Iran: A Case Study of Asteroid and Meteorite Impacts

Extraterrestrial natural hazards, particularly the impact of asteroids, meteorites, and other celestial bodies on Earth, are low-probability events with potentially severe and cascading consequences. Despite their potential impacts, these hazards have received limited attention in Iran’s disaster risk management and preparedness planning. This study focuses on Central Iran and proposes a scenario-based model for preparedness and response that can simulate the potential consequences of a celestial-body impact by integrating event-specific characteristics with evidence and lessons learned from previous disasters in the region. The proposed model first defines impact scenarios based on parameters such as probable location, impact magnitude, and affected area. It then assesses potential direct and cascading consequences for population, buildings, transportation networks, energy and communication systems, critical infrastructure, and emergency services. Observed patterns of damage and disruption from previous earthquakes, floods, storms, and other disasters are incorporated as empirical evidence for developing and refining the impact scenarios. The model is expected to generate spatial and operational scenarios for Central Iran and identify corresponding actions across the pre-impact preparedness, early-warning, emergency-response, and post-impact recovery phases. The study argues that improving Iran’s preparedness for extraterrestrial hazards does not require waiting for an actual event. Instead, scenario modeling combined with spatial data and lessons learned from previous disasters can provide a practical basis for identifying vulnerabilities, testing response capacities, and strengthening preparedness for rare but potentially catastrophic events.

Speaker: Saeed Givehchi (Faculty of Environment, University of Tehran)

11:50 → 12:00 Break

12:00 → 13:00 Poster Session

12:00 4 Decades, 4 Planets and 2 Voyagers | The legacy of the Grand Tour and the Journey Beyond.

Launched in 1977, NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 missions represent one of the greatest achievements in the history of space exploration. Capitalizing on a rare alignment of the outer planets (an event occurring only once every 175 years), the missions successfully executed the ambitious "Grand Tour", providing unprecedented insights into Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

This poster presents a comprehensive overview of the scientific and technological legacy of the Voyager program, focusing on three key dimensions:

• Planetary Discoveries: Key findings from flybys of the gas and ice giants, including active volcanism on Io, the intricate structure of Saturn's rings, Titan's nitrogen-rich atmosphere, and the dynamic weather systems of Uranus and Neptune.

• In-Situ Space Physics: Continuous measurements of planetary magnetospheres, solar wind dynamics, and the unprecedented boundary crossings: entering the heliosheath, crossing the termination shock, and penetrating the heliopause into interstellar space (Voyager 1 in 2012, Voyager 2 in 2018).

• A step further: The ongoing technical operational challenges of managing aging instruments powered by Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs), alongside the deep cultural significance of the Golden Record, a time capsule designed to carry humanity's message across galactic timescales.

Four decades after launch, the Voyager spacecraft remain humanity's most distant emissaries, bridging planetary science with interstellar astrophysics. Carrying the Golden Record as a message into the deep cosmos, the mission reflects humanity's relentless curiosity while raising fundamental questions about the nature of the universe, our place within it, and the potential existence of other civilizations.

Speaker: Martyna Fus (Uniwersytet Jagielloński)

12:00 Beyond Manual Mapping: MarsCONE 2.0 for Automated Volcanic Cone Morphometry

Recent advances in satellite observations and computational capabilities increasingly require researchers across disciplines to adopt modern, data-driven approaches that enable the quantitative analysis of large datasets. This applies to the disciplines of terrestrial and planetary volcanology, as morphologically similar conical landforms are abundant both on Earth and other planetary bodies. However, quantitative morphometric analyses remain constrained by labor-intensive manual mapping and the subjective delineation of key morphological features, limiting the scalability and reproducibility of morphometric investigations. To address these challenges, a framework is needed to facilitate the transition from manual mapping to scalable, data-driven analysis.
Originally developed for automated morphometric analysis of Martian pitted cones, the MarsCONE workflow has been extended in the current version 2.0 to also support terrestrial volcanic landforms, enabling morphometric analyses across planetary bodies and facilitating new insights into planetary-surface morphology and geological interpretation. By integrating the original computational architecture into a PySide6-based graphical user interface (GUI) and introducing dedicated modules for analyzing overlapping cones with multiple summit craters, visualizing morphometric outputs, performing integrated statistical analyses, and comparing multiple datasets, MarsCONE 2.0 lowers technical barriers to morphometric investigations. The extended version also incorporates diagnostic tools for inspecting automatically detected points and supports manual quality-control corrections, enabling users to review and, where necessary, refine automated detections while maintaining full analysis traceability. Overall, our MarsCONE 2.0 framework provides an accessible platform for standardized and automated morphometric analysis of volcanic cones across planets, offering integrated tools for analysis, visualization, and comparison.

Speaker: Jakub Śledziowski (Institute of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Szczecin)

12:00 Can the Historical VSOP87 Analytical Model Match Modern JPL Ephemerides?

While VSOP87 is a historically significant analytical model, precise numerical models from JPL, such as DE440, are the current standard. This project investigates the extent to which classic French trigonometric tables can produce results comparable to modern NASA navigation algorithms, provided that appropriate corrections are applied.
Using Python, we developed a computational model to calculate the distance between a topocentric point on Earth and a specific location on Mars over a given time span. Our algorithm systematically applies successive layers of corrections to baseline models (Keplerian orbits, VSOP87, and DE440). First, it converts time scales (UTC to TDB) and translates the Earth-Moon barycentric state vector to the Earth’s center of mass. Next, it applies geodetic and topocentric adjustments, including conversion to 3D Cartesian coordinates, Earth's polar motion, calculation of Greenwich Mean Sidereal Time (GMST), and rotation matrices for Earth’s precession, nutation, and the Mars rotation angle. Finally, the model calculates signal propagation delays by computing two-way light time and the relativistic Shapiro delay.
The poster will present an analysis of the differences between these models and evaluate the contribution of individual corrections to the final accuracy of the calculated distance. The results will help assess the applicability of analytical solutions in modern planetary geodesy.

Speaker: Jakub Janus (Politechnika Warszawska, Wydział Geodezji i Kartografii)

12:00 Computational Investigation of Lunar Surface Charging Effects on Spaceborne Orbitrap Mass Spectrometers

Lunar exploration and in-situ resource utilization require reliable analysis of lunar soil and its resources. Orbitrap mass spectrometers offer high resolving power and mass accuracy, but charged regolith particles, plasma, and local surface potentials can disturb the electric fields that control ion injection and motion. This study investigates these effects using a three-stage physics-based approach linking grain-scale regolith charging to electric-field perturbations and Orbitrap performance. LIGGGHTS is used to model regolith packing and triboelectric and photoemission charging of individual grains. The resulting charge distribution is imported into COMSOL Multiphysics, where a nonlinear Poisson--Boltzmann/Bohm-flux model calculates sheath potentials and local electric-field variations. These perturbed fields are applied to ion trajectories in a validated Orbitrap geometry using Charged Particle Tracing. Fourier analysis determines changes in trapping frequency, resolving power, and mass accuracy, while Sobol analysis identifies the dominant factors affecting performance. Lunar charging conditions from approximately +10 V on illuminated surfaces to -50--100 V near the terminator and nightside are considered. For approximately 100 $\mu$m regolith-simulant grains, charges exceeding $10^5e$ ($\sim1.6\times10^{-14}$ C) are modeled. The results show that differently charged grains can create spatially varying injection-interface fields even at the same mean surface potential. Increasing field nonuniformity produces greater ion-energy dispersion and axial-frequency variation, causing shifts in measured $m/z$, mass accuracy, and resolving power. The results are compared with field-free Orbitrap performance of up to approximately 150,000 FWHM and 2--5 ppm mass accuracy. This work provides a quantitative framework for assessing how lunar regolith charging can affect Orbitrap accuracy, resolution, and ion transmission during lunar surface measurements.

Speaker: Bharath Saravanan (SRM University , Chennai)

12:00 Controlled Redirection of Asteroids onto Mars-Impacting Trajectories Under Low Thrust

Tens of thousands of known small Solar System bodies have orbits passing within approximately 0.5 AU of the Mars’ orbit. Identifying objects that could be redirected onto Mars-impacting trajectories under weak continuous forcing is relevant to studies of long-term planetary engineering, including conceptual investigations of Mars terraforming. Such problems also provide a demanding test case for numerical trajectory-optimization methods.

In this study, we consider asteroids previously identified as possible to redirect to Mars under a maximum acceleration of $4 \times 10^{-10}\,\mathrm{km\,s^{-2}}$. The aim is to compare the robustness and computational performance of different optimization strategies for constructing physically valid Mars-impact trajectories.

A benchmark set of 90 asteroids was selected and divided into three difficulty classes: easy, intermediate and difficult, with 30 objects in each group. Four different optimization approaches were tested:

• a direct transcription method with piecewise-linear control,
• a spline-based continuous-thrust parametrization,
• an impulsive multiple-shooting formulation - the Sims–Flanagan scheme,
• and a Bézier-curve parametrization of the thrust profile.

The results show that reliable Mars-impact targeting is possible even for objects with large natural miss distances. The two best-performing continuous control approaches recovered validated impact trajectories for all 90 benchmark cases, including all difficult targets, whereas the impulsive and Bézier-curve formulations showed reduced robustness for the most challenging objects.

These results indicate that continuous low acceleration, accumulated over multi-year to decadal timescales, can provide sufficient control authority for asteroid redirection, while the choice of optimization architecture strongly affects the robustness of the resulting solutions.

Speaker: Arkadiusz Hess (Uniwersytet Warszawski)

12:00 Development of a Scoby-Based Bioelectrochemical System for Sustainable Energy Generation in Closed Environments of Future Martian Bases

Sustainable energy systems in closed environments require innovative, low-emission solutions. This research focuses on a bioelectrochemical fuel cell based on a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY, kombucha). A key strength of the study is the rigorous evaluation of the system against a control (the natural electrochemical activity of kombucha), aligning with recent research on space biofuel cells [1]. This enabled a reliable assessment of how introduced electrode materials impact overall cell performance.

The experiment (20 °C) used a zinc anode and cathodes of varying morphologies: flat graphite and a 3D nickel sponge. Measurements in insulating environments yielded near-zero current. Results showed that working electrode material and inter-electrode distance (optimally 10 mm) are crucial for stable operation. The highest peak parameters (>24 mA at ~1.2 V) occurred with flat graphite. Conversely, polarization curve analysis under minimum resistance revealed the nickel sponge's superiority; its significantly larger active surface area generated twice the current of the graphite variant.

Findings confirm that spatial electrode modification effectively optimizes current yield in biological systems. Because zinc ions released from the anode may be toxic to microorganisms, in-depth studies on SCOBY survivability under these conditions are ongoing. Confirming their high resistance would make the tested system a highly promising component for sustainable biosensors and life-support systems. These biodegradable fuel cells offer immense potential for space missions and self-sufficient Mars habitats.

Funding: This research was supported by the TURBOGRANT ORLEN grant.

References: [1] Marczak-Grzesik, M.; Kołodziejczyk, A. M. Biofuel Cells in Space Technologies: Review with Initial Experimental Results. Preprints 2025, 2025101326.

Speaker: Oliwia Wrona (Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza w Krakowie)

12:00 Effect of Ionizing Radiation on Bacterial Cellulose Produced by a Kombucha Consortium

During spaceflight, the main threat to astronauts is ionising radiation, which causes DNA damage and increases the levels of reactive oxygen species, thereby affecting biological processes. The radiation-shielding materials currently used in spacecraft are often based on synthetic or inorganic components and may be heavy, brittle and difficult to produce in an isolated environment. Consequently, the greatest challenge lies in the search for biogenic, lightweight and functional anti-radiation materials.

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is produced by a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) during the kombucha fermentation process. It is characterised by high chemical purity, ease of production and the ability to undergo surface modification.

In this study, three main experiments were conducted: in the first stage, BC was cultured in the presence of ionising radiation to assess its effect on the biosynthesis process. In the second experiment, the effect of radiation on previously isolated bacterial cellulose was investigated. Lastly, measurements of radiation attenuation coefficient were conducted for bacterial cellulose modified with tungsten salt.

Attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) was used to determine changes in the chemical structure. The results obtained showed no significant differences between the control samples and the irradiated samples in either the first or the second experiment. The results suggest that the molecular structure of BC remained unaffected by ionizing radiation under the investigated conditions.

Measurements of radiation attenuation coefficient demonstrate that modification of bacterial cellulose with tungsten enhances its radiation shielding properties. The results obtained indicate that bacterial cellulose remains stable under ionizing radiation exposure, suggesting that it could be used as a matrix for lightweight radiation-shielding composites intended for space-related applications.

Speaker: Wiktoria Ilczyszyn (Marian Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy an Applied Computer Science, Jagiellonian University in Kraków)

12:00 Hyperspectral Characterization of Extremophilic Microbial Biofilms from Svalbard for Planetary Biosignature Detection

Extremophilic microorganisms from Arctic environments provide valuable terrestrial analogues for investigating potential biosignatures relevant to planetary exploration. In this study, soil samples collected from pristine areas of Svalbard were processed to isolate and cultivate microorganisms under laboratory conditions. Soil suspensions were inoculated onto Petri dishes and incubated until microbial colonies reached a minimum diameter of approximately 5 mm. The resulting colonies were analyzed using a 12-channel spectral imaging system covering the 400–1000 nm range. Relative reflectance spectra were compared to identify spectral differences between microbial colonies and assess the potential of non-invasive optical imaging for biofilm characterization.

The study demonstrates the potential of spectral imaging for detecting and differentiating biological material originating from extreme terrestrial environments. This approach may contribute to the development of remote biosignature detection methods for planetary analogue studies and future robotic exploration of Mars and other planetary bodies.

Speaker: Agata Harasymczuk (Faculty of Space Technologies, AGH University of Krakow, Poland)

12:00 Landable Is Not Buildable: Assessing the Artemis Candidate Regions as Sites for Permanent Habitation

The Artemis programme has committed to the lunar south pole, and NASA has identified nine candidate landing regions. These regions were selected against landing and short-mission criteria: Human Landing System constraints, astronaut line of sight, illumination across a mission window, and access to permanently shadowed regions. Recent work has ranked locations within them using GIS and multi-criteria methods, again for landing.
Permanent construction imposes different constraints. A lander needs a pad of tens of metres; a habitat needs contiguous ground at hectare scale, which changes the baseline at which slope and roughness must be assessed. Mission-window illumination is replaced by the longest continuous eclipse, which sets energy storage mass. Excavatability, shielding material availability and metre-scale hazard density become decisive. Global habitat-suitability studies address several of these factors, but favour the near-side maria and do not evaluate the polar regions to which the programme is actually committed.
This work asks how buildable the Artemis candidate regions are. Using existing datasets - LOLA and shape-from-shading topography, modelled illumination, Diviner thermal and rock-abundance products, and ShadowCam imagery of shadowed terrain - we define construction-oriented criteria, apply them to selected candidate regions, and measure the contiguous area that survives, with sensitivity testing of thresholds.
We present the framework, initial results, and an explicit comparison with published landing-suitability rankings, identifying where the two diverge. We also report which criteria, notably regolith depth and surface composition, cannot currently be constrained at the resolution polar terrain demands. The aim is to bring construction-engineering constraints into a site-selection discussion so far dominated by landing and science requirements.

Speaker: Marcin Kitala (Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza, Wydział Technologii Kosmicznych)

12:00 LunaX: Deep Learning and Human-in-the-Loop Analysis of Lunar Surface Features from Orbital Imagery

The growing volume of orbital imagery of the Moon has made manual inspection of the surface impractical, while visual interpretation of individual landforms remains subjective and hard to standardise. We present LunaX, a system combining a deep-learning detector with an interactive analytical environment, designed to pre-select regions of interest for an expert rather than to replace the expert.
The detection model is based on the YOLOv8 architecture and was trained on ~1500 image tiles of lunar craters retrieved from the LROC WAC mosaic through the USGS planetary WMS service. Bounding boxes were generated automatically from crater positions and diameters taken from the Lunar Impact Crater Database, then manually refined in Label Studio. Craters were assigned to six chronostratigraphic classes (Pre-Nectarian, Nectarian, Lower Imbrian, Upper Imbrian, Eratosthenian, Copernican), so the model learns morphological degradation as a proxy for relative age - both the strength and the main limitation of the approach.
Around this model we built LunaX, a web application (FastAPI, React, Leaflet) in which the user selects an area on a lunar grid, sets resolution, sampling strategy and confidence threshold, and runs inference on tiles downloaded on demand. Detections and image metadata are stored in Parquet and queried with DuckDB; map, gallery and list views allow results to be confirmed, rejected, tagged and commented on, and stored images can be re-analysed with different weights without repeated downloads. This human-in-the-loop workflow also turns the tool into a generator of curated training data.
The architecture is model-agnostic: the same pipeline can be extended to lava pits, rilles, scarps, boulders, chaotic terrain or pyroclastic deposits - features directly relevant to landing-site and ISRU assessment. The poster presents the data pipeline, system architecture and example detections.

Speaker: Marcin Kitala (Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza, Wydział Technologii Kosmicznych)

12:00 Machine Learning Detection of Penetration Anomalies in Planetary Lander Data: A Cross-Mission Validation Using MUPUS, HP3, and SSP

Planetary lander penetrometer and subsurface probe experiments have repeatedly encountered unexpected mechanical resistance, including MUPUS on Rosetta's Philae lander (comet 67P), the HP3 "mole" on NASA's InSight lander (Mars), and the Surface Science Package on ESA's Huygens probe (Titan). Each anomaly was identified and characterized manually by mission teams, with distinct underlying causes ranging from a sintered dust-ice crust to insufficient regolith friction.

This study develops a change-point and pattern-deviation detection method, calibrated on the MUPUS penetrometer dataset from the Philae lander's First Science Sequence, where the instrument's 216-cycle hammering sequence failed to achieve expected depth despite escalating energy levels. MUPUS penetrometer data, developed by the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences, serves as the primary calibration case, given its independently confirmed anomaly (Spohn et al. 2015).

The method is then applied, without modification, to publicly archived HP3 and SSP datasets to test whether it correctly and independently identifies known anomalies of different physical origin and signature shape across missions and planetary bodies. We report detection performance across all three datasets, discuss the method's ability to distinguish anomaly types, and consider its potential as an automated screening tool for future subsurface probe missions, including ESA's upcoming Comet Interceptor.

Speaker: Poojitha Annabathula

12:00 Multi-Sensor Cross-Domain Transfer Learning Between a Terrestrial Aeolian Analog Site and Martian Orbital Imagery

Terrestrial analog sites, Earth environments resembling extraterrestrial surfaces, are an established methodology for validating instruments, algorithms, and mission concepts in planetary exploration. Poland's Błędów Desert, historically shaped by active aeolian dune fields and now substantially reduced through vegetation encroachment, has served as such an analog site, and recent work has shown the viability of machine learning classification on Sentinel-2 imagery of the region for land cover monitoring.

This study investigates whether feature representations learned from terrestrial analog satellite data generalize to Martian orbital imagery, where independent ground truth is inherently unavailable. Sentinel-2 multispectral imagery is used to isolate the active, vegetation-free dune core of Błędów via NDVI filtering, restricting analysis to terrain most analogous to Martian conditions. Sentinel-1 SAR data is incorporated to characterize surface roughness independently of optical reflectance, reflecting radar's established role in planetary surface characterization. A pretrained self-supervised vision model extracts feature embeddings from both optical and radar data, without task-specific labels or Mars-derived training, and these embeddings are evaluated on public Mars orbital imagery (CTX and HiRISE) for zero-shot transfer performance on terrain differentiation and anomaly detection.

While self-supervised methods have been applied to Mars rover imagery, and transfer learning is well studied within Earth observation, this work addresses a distinct and, to our knowledge, unaddressed question: whether Earth-derived orbital and radar representations transfer meaningfully across planetary domains. We report transfer performance across both modalities, characterize failure modes, and discuss implications for multi-sensor terrestrial analog data as a low-cost proxy for validating AI-assisted planetary surface analysis.

Speaker: Poojitha Annabathula

12:00 Multivariate Data Analysis in Planetary Geology Using “Pebbler” App

Planetary missions targeted at rocky bodies generate large amounts of geological data. For example, geochemical information is obtained by spectrometers installed on Martian rovers. Also, microscopic images acquired by cameras on Martian rovers allow individual grain segmentation and subsequent calculation of useful sedimentological parameters (e.g., particle size distributions, circularity, roundness, etc.). Both geochemical composition and individual particle morphometry are multivariate data by nature, i.e., they consist of at least three variables (e.g., elemental concentrations or particle dimensions). Although these kinds of datasets are often analyzed with standard bivariate statistical methods (such as Pearson correlation), the use of dedicated multivariate statistical methods allows capturing more complex relations in data. Other applications of multivariate data analysis include dimensionality reduction and hypothesis generation.
To popularize multivariate statistical methods, we developed an R/shiny application called “pebbler”. It is graphical, cross-platform software which allows easy visualization, parameters tuning and export of results. Although initially designed as a tool to perform morphometric analysis of pebble grains, it can be successfully used for other instances of multivariate data. “Pebbler” supports Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) as well as multiple data preprocessing options (including preprocessing of compositional data). We will demonstrate its capabilities using geochemical and granulometric data derived from a Martian exploration mission. Contrary to the most common approach in which statistical quantities of particle size distribution (e.g., mean, standard deviation, skewness, etc.) are analyzed, we will use morphometric information of individual particles and treat them as multivariate data points.

Speaker: Szymon Mol (Doctoral School of Exact and Natural Sciences; Institute of Geological Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland)

12:00 Restoration of Martian Environment and Problems with Sisyphean Effect

We are considering the use of existing Martian resources to recreate the planet's past environment. It is worth noting that such a reconstruction could serve as a prelude to terraforming Mars without the need to import material from the Kuiper Belt—a requirement of the radical terraforming scenario proposed by Czechowski (2025, LPSC 2025, #1858). The Martian environment of billions of years ago resembled the target state of the terraforming. The main difference lies in oxygen, which is abundant in Earth's atmosphere but was virtually absent billions of years ago. Of course, if any organisms had emerged and survived on Mars, the reconstruction would entail restoring their lost environment—including the vast bodies of water characteristic of both early Earth and early Mars. Currently, significant part of Martian water may exist in the form of hydrated minerals. With sufficient energy, this water could be recovered from minerals and other sources. The energy cost would likely be lower than that of transporting water from the Kuiper Belt. However, these resources would yield only a limited amount of water. This water might prove unstable; instead of participating in the hydrological cycle, it could be lost in so-called traps. Such instability could trigger a "Sisyphus effect," characterized by the rapid reversal of previously implemented changes. Sisyphean effect could necessitate the delivery of additional, quantities of water— which in practice would mean implementing (at least partially) a radical terraforming scenario—in order to stabilize conditions on the planet. It should be noted that various processes can also trigger the Sisyphean effect for oxygen, nitrogen, or other substances introduced into the environment.

Speaker: Leszek Czechowski (Centrum Badań Kosmicznych PAN, ul. Bartycka 18a, Warszawa 00-716, Poland)

12:00 Study of Whistler-Mode Instability Across 5–40 Rj Using JRM33 and Juno-Based Density Models

Whistler-mode waves play a significant role in scattering energetic electrons within Jupiter's magnetosphere, influencing radiation belt dynamics and auroral precipitation. However, the radial variation of their growth conditions from the dense inner plasma torus to the more tenuous middle magnetosphere has not been systematically explored using recent field and density constraints. This study aims to calculate the linear growth rate of parallel-propagating whistler-mode instability as a function of radial distance between 5 and 40 Jupiter radii. We combine the JRM33 magnetic field model, which provides the background field strength and curvature, with empirically derived electron density profiles based on Juno observations. For the inner region spanning the Io plasma torus, we adopt a multi-component Gaussian model that captures its structured nature. For the outer region extending into the magnetodisk, we employ a power-law profile consistent with recent statistical analyses of Juno plasma data. The transition between these regimes is handled in a straightforward manner. By solving the linear Vlasov dispersion relation assuming a bi-Maxwellian electron distribution, we study the instability growth rate across this radial domain. To isolate the effects of density and magnetic field, we fix other plasma parameters such as thermal velocity and ion-to-electron temperature ratio at typical magnetospheric values, while the magnetic field strength varies with radial distance according to JRM33. The electron cyclotron frequency and plasma frequency are evaluated at each radial step using the background magnetic field and density, respectively. This investigation provides a basic reference for interpreting wave activity observed by Juno and highlights radial locations where whistler-mode generation may be favoured. The results may also serve as a useful input for planning plasma wave analyses for the upcoming JUICE mission.

Speaker: Ankit Dhaikar (Amity Institute of Applied Sciences, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India)

12:00 Systematic Assessment of Central European Volcanic Province Subregions for Igneous Petrological, Geochemical and/or Mineralogical Martian Analog Terrains and Source of Lunar Analog Materials

The Central European Volcanic Province (CEVP) comprises Cenozoic mafic to alkaline volcanic fields distributed across Central Europe and offers a broad compositional range relevant to planetary analogue research and to the development of European Lunar and Martian simulants. This study systematically evaluates CEVP volcanic sub region lithologies as petrological, geochemical and/or mineralogical analogues of Martian volcanic terrains, and potential additional feedstocks for lunar-Martian analogue/simulant materials. Published whole-rock geochemical and mineralogical datasets are compiled and compared with in-situ Martian compositions characterized at Gale, Gusev and Jezero Crater, and SNC meteorites. Comparability is quantified using compositional Figure-of-Merit (FoM) (ISO 10788:2014) approaches adapted from Tovar et al. (2026), complemented by petrological classification and mineralogical comparison. The lunar component extends previous work by Przylibski et al. (2024) and Szczęśniewicz et al. (2026) on Lower Silesian volcanic rocks by screening additional CEVP lithologies for correspondence with mare-basalt/regolith compositions and suitability as regolith-simulant feedstocks. This framework aims to constrain candidate petrological Martian analogue sites within the CEVP and complement available simulants/analogs with additional potential terrestrial feedstocks that can further aid and diversify simulant development and ISRU research. Acknowledgements: This study financed by the Europäischen Sozialfonds (ESF) Plus in Sachsen (SAB-Application number: 100670490). The authors wish to thank Mr. Roland Würkert and Dr. Axel Renno of Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF) - HZDR for their support.

Speaker: Jose San Martin Lobos (Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg)

12:00 Technical Requirements for Settle of a Permanent Base on High-Altitude Regions Near the South Pole of the Moon.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the illumination conditions in regions near the lunar south pole to select the best location to create a permanent lunar base. Compilation of best- and worst- case calendars for various high-altitude regions near the South Pole whose characteristics are close to parameters the “peak of eternal light”.
The lunar highlands differ from the ideal "peak of eternal light" due to the precession of the lunar orbit and the fact that the lunar topography was shaped primarily by asteroid impacts, meaning the highest local surface points are sections of the outer ring-shaped rims of craters. And these highest points on the rims of one of the crater near the South Pole periodically shadow each other. Thus, the illuminated and darkened areas alternate over time. If the speed of movement of the illuminated area on the surface does not exceed the speed of the rover, the rover can move along a route so as to remain within the illuminated area and receive a sufficient solar energy for a longer period of time than if it were stationary.
To determine the most optimal characteristics for a long-term stay on the Moon, it is necessary to analyze how various high-altitude lunar regions differ from the ideal "peak of eternal light."
Technical requirements for lunar rovers are determined by the characteristics of the most optimal regions.
Optimization also takes into account the following aspects:
Accumulation of solar energy during the illuminated period in the form of gravitational energy.
Changing the lunar surface - construction of embankments and demolition of rims.
Transmission of energy by power beaming from peak to peak over long distances.

Speaker: Evgenii Chigarin

PSC2026_Evgenii_Chigarin_A0.jpg

12:00 Terrestrial Concretions as Indicators of Ore-Forming Processes and Potential Metal Resources on Mars

Martian concretions, the hematite-rich spherules discovered at Meridiani Planum by the Opportunity rover, provide important clues to the aqueous and geochemical evolution of ancient Mars. To investigate their potential as indicators of metal-enrichment processes, we studied three terrestrial concretion analogues: spherules from the Cretaceous Dakota Formation and Jurassic Navajo Sandstone in Utah, and large Miocene “Trovants” from Romania. Their mineralogical and chemical composition was investigated using optical microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and electron microprobe analyses.
The terrestrial concretions contain iron oxides and sulfides as well as Cu- and Sn-rich mineral phases, indicating significant mineralization. In Navajo Sandstone concretions, EDS measurements yielded 44.78–53.15 wt.% Cu and 8.49–11.13 wt.% Sn, while electron microprobe analyses of selected phases in crystal inclusions revealed 78–85 wt.% Cu and 13–16 wt.% Sn. These results demonstrate that concretion-forming environments can locally concentrate metals within relatively small mineral structures.
Mini-TES observations from Meridiani Planum are consistent with ore-associated minerals including pyrite, ilmenite, hematite, and jarosite, while APXS data indicate iron sulfates and oxides, magnesium sulfates, and chlorides. The closest terrestrial analogue identified in this study is the Navajo Formation, where iron oxides occur within a siliceous-clay matrix and concretion formation is associated with diagenetic, cementation and recrystallization processes.
Our results suggest that some Martian concretions may record localized low-temperature ore-forming processes associated with groundwater circulation or hydrothermal activity. If metal-enriched concretions occur in the Martian subsurface, they could serve as mineralogical pathfinders for broader zones of metal enrichment, including potentially economically significant elements.

Speaker: Natalia Zalewska (Space Research Center PAS, Warsaw, Poland)

12:00 TOI-7475 Spectroscopic Follow Up - Detection of a Massive Hot Jupiter on an Eccentric Orbit.

We present the first spectroscopic follow-up for TOI-7475, and report the detection of a planetary-mass companion. Transits with a period of 3.25 days were observed by TESS. The dips in brightness are 0.006 mag and last approximately 4.5 hours. The host star is a spectral type F5 with a mass of approximately 1.48 M$_{\odot}$.
We collected 24 high resolution echelle spectra using the PST1 telescope. Analysis of the TESS photometric data and our radial velocities was performed using the Wilson-Devinney method. We obtained a planetary mass of the companion of 12.0$\pm$1.0 M$_{\mathrm{jup}}$. The small semi-major axis and short orbital period classify the planet as a Hot Jupiter. Its orbit is elliptical with an eccentricity of 0.16. The ellipticity is evident in the spectroscopic data and could indicates the young age of the system.

Speaker: Joanna Pietrucha (Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu)

13:00 → 14:30 Lunch break

14:30 → 16:00 Mercury, Venus, Mars

Convener: Bartosz Pieterek (Institute of Geology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań)

14:30 Machine-Learning Algorithms for MERTIS Spectral Classification In Support of BepiColombo Investigations of Mercury

BepiColombo is the joint European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission to Mercury. It carries the Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (MERTIS), the first instrument designed to obtain thermal-infrared spectra of Mercury at wavelengths of 7–14 µm. During the fifth Mercury flyby in December 2024, MERTIS acquired more than 1.4 million surface emissivity spectra. Global orbital observations are expected after Mercury orbit insertion and the start of nominal science operations in 2027.
At AGH University of Krakow, we will train and evaluate machine-learning algorithms for the mineralogical and geological interpretation of MERTIS data. The algorithms will complement existing laboratory-to-orbit mineral identification approaches for MERTIS by focusing on spectral classification against Planetary Spectroscopy Laboratory (PSL) emissivity spectra. We will train models based on spectral matching, dimensionality reduction, and unsupervised clustering on thermally corrected emissivity spectra. This work does not involve training large language models on spectral data. Given the sensitivity of mission-related data, we consider Polish language models such as Bielik, which can be run fully locally, to support code production, documentation, and agents that call the spectral algorithms. Computing resources at ACK Cyfronet AGH (PLGrid), including the Helios supercomputer, will allow the algorithms to be trained and tested on flyby and orbital-scale datasets. The resulting algorithms and evaluation procedures will support the use of MERTIS observations to investigate the composition and geological history of Mercury’s surface.

Speaker: Marta Skiścim (AGH University of Krakow)

14:45 Nonlinear Mode Competition and Pulse Thermal Reorganization in Venus Mantle Convection: A Reduced-Order Study

Venus lacks plate tectonics, yet its highland–lowland topography and clustering of coronae and volcanic provinces suggest large-scale organization of mantle upwelling and downwelling. We test whether such organization can emerge without imposing a preferred lateral asymmetry through nonlinear interaction between near-degenerate convective modes, within a hypothesis termed pulse thermal reorganization (PTR).

We model a two-dimensional, Venus-scaled annulus with depth- and temperature-dependent viscosity, using the exact logarithmic conductive reference state for annular geometry. Linear stability analysis, validated against planar and constant-viscosity benchmarks, reveals a converged crossing between azimuthal wavenumbers m=3 and m=4 at a depth-viscosity contrast of 100 and temperature-viscosity contrast of ~306, with Ra_c ~516. The crossing persists across depth-viscosity contrasts of 20–500 but is sensitive to the conductive reference profile.

When both modes are seeded and viscosity evolves dynamically through a self-consistent Picard–Stokes iteration, nonlinear coupling generates m=1 and m=7 harmonics consistent with the triadic interactions 4−3=1 and 4+3=7. The relative growth rate of the m=4/m=3 amplitude ratio decreases by ~80% between the initial nonlinear evolution and t=5, indicating progressively slowing modal separation. Whether the competition ultimately saturates, reverses, or continues remains unresolved.

These results demonstrate nonlinear spectral coupling and evolving mode competition without imposed lateral asymmetry. We interpret this calculation as a reduced-order mechanistic test of the PTR hypothesis; boundary treatment, spatial and temporal convergence, and extension to fully three-dimensional spherical geometry are required before assessing planetary significance.

Speaker: Abhiram M S (Department of Geology and Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur)

15:00 How Many Times Did a Martian Volcano Erupt?

Volcanic systems on Earth commonly evolve through repeated eruptive episodes, comprising discrete events grouped into phases. The accumulation of volcanic deposits builds the edifice while obscuring evidence of the system's evolution through space and time. Recent terrestrial eruptions can be characterized at high temporal resolution using satellite- and UAV-based observations supplemented by direct sampling. This is not feasible on other planets, leaving Martian eruptive histories poorly understood. Limited constraints on their temporal evolution hinder the distinction between monogenetic and polygenetic systems, creating ambiguity in terminology and classification. Moreover, lack of detailed remote sensing observations integrated with high-resolution digital elevation models and crater-count age constraints limits recognition of eruptive episodes recorded by discrete lava flows and landforms. Consequently, the eruptive histories of many small Martian volcanic systems have been oversimplified. To address these uncertainties, particularly for late Amazonian distributed volcanism in Tharsis, we investigated a fissure-fed system east of Arsia Mons, near the boundary with Hesperian-aged crust. Detailed geological mapping, topography-based structural analysis, and crater-count age determinations identified several distinct lava flows sourced from the same fissure system. These observations provide evidence of multiple eruptive episodes, indicating repeated eruptions analogous to the recent polygenetic Svartsengi eruptive series (2023–2025) in Iceland. Although crater-count ages of individual units overlap within analytical uncertainties, well-defined lava flow fronts indicate temporal breaks between successive episodes. Collectively, these observations suggest that this Martian system may have been polygenetic and highlight the need to re-examine other small volcanic systems using a multi-approach framework to better characterize their spatiotemporal eruptive histories.

Speaker: Bartosz Pieterek (Geohazard Research Unit, Institute of Geology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland)

15:15 Beyond the Rover's Reach: High-Resolution Martian Mapping with the Ingenuity Helicopter

The Mars 2020 mission revolutionized planetary exploration by introducing the first extraterrestrial rotorcraft – Ingenuity. While orbiters provide essential global context and rovers offer highly localized surface observations, a scale gap has persisted in Martian terrain mapping. This presentation demonstrates how low-altitude rotorcraft imagery can successfully bridge this gap, delivering topographic data of unprecedented detail.

We present the results of a novel georeferenced Structure-from-Motion (SfM) workflow specifically designed to process Ingenuity's NavCam imagery using navigation telemetry. Applied to flights over Jezero crater, our methodology yields GIS-ready orthomosaics and Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) with a resolution of approximately 3–4 cm. These sub-decimeter products are generated in a global Martian reference frame and offer a level of detail roughly an order of magnitude finer than the highest-resolution orbital data, such as those from HiRISE. To overcome the absence of ground control points, we detail how fusing flight telemetry with orbital refinements ensures high internal and external accuracy in our SfM workflow.

Finally, we discuss the transformative potential of these high-resolution datasets for planetary geomorphology. Furthermore, our results prove that rotorcraft platforms can rapidly map areas inaccessible to rovers, opening new avenues for future robotic exploration and providing openly accessible data for the broader scientific community.

Speaker: Paweł Czernic (Warsaw University of Technology)

15:30 A Past Wind Regime on Mars, as Recorded by Transverse Aeolian Ridges

Transverse Aeolian Ridges (TARs) are decametre scale bedforms, ubiquitous on the surface of Mars. TARs are are oriented perpendicular to the direction of the prevailing peak winds. Since TARs do not appear to be moving in the present day, their orientation likely records the wind patterns during historic epochs when the environmental conditions on Mars were more conducive to mass movement than they are today.
Using deep learning, we digitised ~20 million TARs in ~10,000 HiRISE Images, a dataset of unprecedented size. Global orientation trends were examined, as were those in a study area covering Isidis, Elysium, and the southern half of Utopia Planitia, as well as adjoining highlands regions in Syrtis Major and along the dichotomy boundary.
We found that in flat plains, TAR orientation trends are consistent over many tens of nearby HiRISE images. This provides a strong signal for wind direction during TAR forming epochs. Rugged areas show less consistent patterns.
We used Earth Movers Distance to compare the distribution of TAR orientations to modelled wind vectors produced by Global Circulation Models (GCMs) of the martian climate. We identified many regions where the GCM predicted wind vectors do not change between climate model scenarios. In most of these regions, the modelled results are always a good match for the TAR orientations, suggesting that conditions here have consistently favoured TAR formation throughout the history of Mars. There is though a preference for a 45° scenario, with that providing the best match for most locations.
In regions where variance between climate scenarios is high, the observed TAR pattern is most consistent with formation under high, 45°, obliquity conditions. This last occurred 5.5 million years ago. This appears to be the latest era during which wind speeds strong enough to mobilise TAR forming materials occurred on a large scale.

Speaker: Alex Barrett (The Open University)

16:00 → 16:15 Coffee break

16:15 → 17:45 Planetary exploration

Convener: Robert Olszewski (Wydział Geodezji i Kartografii)

16:15 Earth, Moon, Mars: An Architectural Perspective on Designing Human Environments

Architecture shapes human environments in response to users’ needs and site-specific conditions. On Earth, the design process considers location, climate, terrain, access to water, energy, materials and infrastructure, and available technologies. Basic human needs remain similar, while the conditions for meeting them change radically on the Moon and Mars due to differences in gravity, atmosphere, pressure, temperature, radiation, magnetic environment, solar exposure and resource availability.
This paper takes the terrestrial architectural design process as a reference point for exploring the design of extraterrestrial habitats. Selected elements, from site assessment and the building’s relationship with its surroundings, through material, structural and spatial solutions, to energy supply and indoor environmental conditions, are examined in relation to lunar and Martian conditions.
The discussion also considers architecture’s capacity to respond to change, either passively through site, form, orientation, materials and spatial organisation, or actively through environmental monitoring and building control systems. Limited resources and infrastructure also increase the importance of autonomy, modularity, repairability and reuse.
The paper explores how far terrestrial design logic can be applied to lunar and Martian habitats and which elements require reprioritisation or redefinition. It asks whether these environments introduce new design problems or instead stimulate the search for new responses to questions already present in terrestrial architecture. Reversing the perspective, it also considers whether solutions developed in response to extraterrestrial constraints can inspire more adaptive, autonomous and resource-efficient architecture on Earth.

Speaker: Karolina Dąbrowska-Żółtak (Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture)

16:30 High-Fidelity Immersive 3D Visualization of the Jezero Crater: A Game Engine-Based Approach for Planetary Exploration

Modern planetary science requires advanced tools to interpret complex topographic data. Traditional GIS software often struggles with real-time rendering of high-resolution, multi-scale 3D environments, especially in virtual reality workflows. This paper presents a novel framework for immersive visualization of the Jezero Crater – the current landing site of the Perseverance rover – using the Unreal Engine game engine.
The core of our methodology focuses on overcoming the limitations of static 2D maps and standard GIS-based 3D models. By integrating multi-resolution datasets, we have developed a "digital twin" of the Jezero Crater that bridges the gap between regional context and micro-scale terrain analysis. Our approach merges three distinct data tiers: regional HiRISE digital elevation models (0.25–0.5 m/pixel) for landscape context, and sub-decimeter (~3.5 cm/pixel) terrain data derived from imagery captured by the Ingenuity helicopter during its operations in the crater.
We utilize the Unreal Engine enhanced by Cesium for Unreal and 3D Tiles technology. This architecture enables a hierarchical Level of Detail (LoD) management system, allowing for the seamless, real-time streaming of massive geospatial datasets. Unlike conventional tools, this approach ensures smooth performance and high frame rates even when rendering complex, high-poly geometry at the micro-scale, essential for analyzing the geological features currently being traversed by the Perseverance rover.
This solution provides a powerful interface for planetary scientists and mission planners. Beyond mere visualization, it enables interactive site analysis, mission path simulation, and the visualization of atmospheric processes within the crater. We demonstrate that combining high-resolution planetary data with game engine technology creates a new paradigm in planetary cartography, offering an immersive environment for both scientific investigation and public engagement in the exploration of Mars.

Speaker: Marta Goluch (Politechnika Warszawska)

16:45 New Martian Regolith Simulant

Regolith is a loose layer of sediment, composed of dust, sand, and gravel grains that covers the solid surface of planetary bodies (planets, moons, asteroids, etc.). Research on the transport of regolith grains and its properties is one of the most important issues in planetary research, because any interaction with the surface of such a body is an interaction with the regolith.
Mars is a desert planet, shaped by regolith particles carried by the wind. They affect the surface topography, the circulation of the atmosphere, the climate, and Mars exploration operations. To conduct laboratory research on the formation of aeolian landforms or the interaction between regolith and anthropogenic objects (e.g., rover wheels or drills), tons of regolith are needed. From Mars, no regolith samples were brought back to Earth. Because Martian regolith is not available, regolith simulants are used.
There are several types of Martian regolith simulants that have been created for various purposes (e.g., JSC Mars-1, MGS-1, UC Mars-1). Each of them reflects specific properties, e.g. spectral, mineralogical, magnetic. However, none of them fully reflects the shape and size of the grains. The shape and size of grains are very important for aeolian transport, gravitational processes, or triboelectric charging. Above all, these properties significantly affect the interactions between regolith and anthropogenic objects.
In this work, we present a new regolith simulant, called UJ-MGF-1, that is consistent in shape, composition, and grain size with fine-grained Martian sands (diameter <0.25 mm). These sands are found practically everywhere on the surface of Mars and are transported by wind. They formed aeolian bedforms, such as sand ripples, sand shadows, or wind streaks; they are also present under the surface. The new simulant can be used for laboratory research on the surface and near-surface processes, testing of space technologies, or on in situ resource utilization activities.

Speaker: Joanna Kozakiewicz (Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy, and Applied Computer Science)

17:00 Challenges in Developing a Multiphysics Virtual Twin of Extraterrestrial Regolith

Space agencies are pursuing sustained lunar and Martian exploration, where in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), autonomous construction, excavation, and surface mobility will play a crucial role. To design and validate such systems before deployment, there is a growing need for high-fidelity virtual twins capable of reproducing the behavior of extraterrestrial regolith and its interactions with engineering systems. Among the available numerical approaches, the Discrete Element Method (DEM) is widely regarded as a cornerstone technology for modeling granular materials and forms a key component of future virtual regolith environments. A realistic representation of extraterrestrial regolith must capture a wide range of coupled physical phenomena, including particle mechanics under reduced-gravity conditions, thermal processes, gas-regolith interactions and electrostatic charging. While significant progress has been made in modeling individual processes, the integration of these phenomena into a coherent, predictive and transferable multiphysics framework remains a major challenge. The fundamental obstacle lies in the scarcity of experimental data collected under relevant extraterrestrial conditions. Earth-based facilities can reproduce selected environmental factors such as vacuum, extreme temperatures, or radiation exposure, but they cannot provide sustained reduced-gravity environments required for comprehensive material characterization and model validation. As a result, current numerical models can often reproduce specific laboratory experiments but cannot reliably predict regolith behavior across the wide range of environments and loading scenarios expected during lunar and Martian operations. This lack of gravity-consistent model validation hinders the development of robust virtual twins that could serve as virtual testing grounds for ISRU technologies and surface systems.

Speaker: Przemysław Młynarczyk (Politechnika Krakowska im. Tadeusza Kościuszki)

17:15 Terrestrial-to-Mars Transfer Learning for Automated Grain Size Analysis in the GRAINS Project

Automated grain size analysis from rover imagery is central to the scientific return of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover, whose PanCam and CLUPI cameras will image sediment at Oxia Planum within a mission timeline too short for manual measurement. We present the GRAINS project, which adapts a state-of-the-art deep learning segmentation model, originally developed and validated on terrestrial fluvial and glacial sediment, to the imaging conditions of these two instruments. A physical analogue setup was built using commercial cameras configured to match the sensor geometry, working distance and field of view of PanCam HRC and CLUPI, and used to image 21 Antarctic analogue samples under controlled illumination, with further Mars-analogue materials currently being added. Before any retraining, the terrestrial model was tested against more than 400 historical images from past Mars missions, exposing three recurring failure modes linked to grain resolution, size heterogeneity and morphological variability. A first domain-adapted model, fine-tuned to address these failure modes, was benchmarked on a held-out Mars-like test set and outperformed the original terrestrial model across every segmentation and granulometry metric evaluated. We discuss the implications of this transfer learning approach for deploying automated sediment analysis tools on future planetary missions, and outline the ongoing dataset expansion toward a validated, mission-ready GRAINS model.

Speakers: Cristina Luna (GMV), Almudena Moreno (GMV)

17:45 → 17:55 Bledow Desert Field Trip Information

dr Krzysztof Ninard

18:00 → 19:00 Touring the laboratories

Saturday 24 October

08:00 → 15:00 Field trip and workshops at the Błędów Desert