Europlanet Society promotes the advancement of European planetary science and related fields for the benefit of the community and is open to individual members and organizations. Anyone with an active interest in planetary science (whether academic or industrial, professional or hobbyist) is welcome to join the Society.

Our objectives:

• Expand and support a diverse and inclusive planetary community across Europe through the activities of our 10 regional centers.
• Build the profile of our sector through outreach, education and policy activities.
• Support Europe's key role in planetary science by developing links at the national and international level.

The Society is the parent body of the annual Europlanet Scientific Congress (EPSC), the largest annual meeting on planetary science in Europe. Launched in September 2018, Europlanet Society builds on the 15-year legacy of Europlanet projects funded by the European Commission and provides a sustainable platform for the infrastructure, virtual access facilities, tools and services developed through these. activities.

The Europlanet Society is governed by an elected Executive Board and its activities are supported by Committees and Working Groups drawn from its members. The Executive Office of the Society is hosted and administered by the European Science Foundation in Strasbourg.

The Spain & Portugal Regional Hub is the Europlanet Society node for the Iberian Peninsula. Created in 2019, its purpose is to promote and facilitate the achievement of the objectives of the Europlanet Society in Spain and Portugal by developing links between them and with the rest of Europe through the creation of collaborative work networks in these areas.

The composition of the Committee that coordinates the Iberian Node is:

• Chair: Miguel A. López-Valverde (IAA/CSIC, Granada)
• Vice-Chair & Representative for Portugal: Gabriella Gilli (IA, Lisbon)
• Representative for Spain: Adriano Campo Bagatín (Univ. Alicante)
• Secretary: Francisco González Galindo (IAA/CSIC)
• Early Career Rep. Spain: Juan Luis Rizos (University of Maryland)
• Early Career Rep. Portugal: José Eduardo Silva (IA, Lisbon)
• Outreach & Communication Spain: Juan Ángel Vaquerizo (CAB)
• Outreach & Communication Portugal: João Retre (IA, Lisbon)
• Industry Officer (Spain): Andrés Catalán (PAE, Madrid)
• Industry Officer (Portugal): Marta Gonçalves (Portugal Space, Lisbon)
• Diversity Officer: João Faria (IA, Porto)
• Amateur Community Officer: Joaquín Álvaro (FAAE/AstroCuenca)

Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

1: Call for a Medium-size and a Fast mission opportunity in ESA's Science Programme

The ESA Director of Science solicits the scientific community in ESA's Member States for proposals for both a "Fast" mission opportunity (to be launched in the 2030-2031 timeframe) and for a Medium mission opportunity (to be launched around 2037).  The new long-term scientific plan - Voyage 2050 - for the Science Programme of the European Space Agency (ESA), has been issued in June 2021, following a broad consultation of the scientific community and a peer review process, with final recommendations issued by an independent scientific Senior Committee. The plan includes three Large (L) missions in selected science themes (Moons of the Giant Planets, From Temperate Exoplanets to the Milky Way, and New Physical Probes of the Early Universe) and a set of Medium (M) and Fast (F) missions. The definition of the F and M space missions is based on a competitive, peer-reviewed selection process. Even though the Voyage 2050 plan identifies a set of possible themes for the Medium missions, proposals in all fields of space science will be considered, with no prejudice.

Full details can be found at:  https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/call-for-missions-2021/
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2: Call for Membership in the Expert Committee for the Large mission covering the science theme “Moons of the Giant Planets”

The Director of Science at the European Space Agency (ESA) has issued a Call for Membership in the Expert Committee for the Large mission covering the science theme “Moons of the Giant Planets” that will support the initial definition of space mission concepts to fulfil the goals set for the “Moons of the Giant Planets” science theme.  This is the first scientific theme identified in the new long-term scientific plan (Voyage 2050) for the ESA Science Programme for the large mission following Athena and LISA. “Moons of the Giant Planets” addresses issues such as habitability, biosignatures, prebiotic chemistry, etc., to be implemented through a planetary probe to one of the moons of either Jupiter or Saturn.

Deadline for receipt of applications is 18 January 2022

Full details can be found at:  https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/call-for-expert-committee-for-moons-of-the-giant-planets/
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I would be grateful if you could bring these two Calls to the attention of the Spanish space science community. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have about these.

Europlanet 2024 Research Infrastructure project and the Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy of Vilnius University are pleased to announce the international conference „Europlanet Telescope Network Science Workshop“. 

The Europlanet Telescope Network (EPN-TN), launched in 2020,  is a network of small telescope facilities to support planetary science observations by professional and amateur astronomers. The EPN-TN currently comprises 16 observatories with 46 telescopes ranging from 40 cm to 2 m in size. The network can be accessed free of charge to carry out projects on a wide variety of scientific studies about the Solar System and exoplanets, as well as related astronomical investigations. 

The goal of this workshop is to encourage community-led proposals and to highlight scientific results achieved with EPN-TN and other medium size and small telescopes. We invite interested astronomers and amateurs to participate, to learn more about  the instruments offered, their capabilities, and scientific potential.

Sessions will be distributed over three half days. They will be dedicated accordingly: 

Day 1 -  Solar System planets
Day 2 -  Exoplanets
Day 3 -  Minor Solar System Bodies

Registration free of charge and with no deadline. 

Participants are encouraged to submit a short abstract describing the science questions and topics they would like to address with EPN-TN. We anticipate a talk length of 12+3 min for contributed presentations and by 2-3 min for poster presentations. 

The deadlines for abstract submissions:

oral presentations  - 7 January 2022 23:59:00 UTC  (notification of acceptance by 14 January 2022)
poster presentations - 21 January 2022 23:59:00 UTC

For Application and registration form follow this link

The official magazine of Europlanet, the European community for planetary science.

This first issue has a strong focus on Mars, including European contributions to current missions, experimental research in labs and in the field, and outreach initiatives to engage the next generation. We look back at the origins of Europlanet and its links to the Cassini-Huygens mission at the beginning of this century. We also have updates on the Winchcombe meteorite and on several new partnerships to support planetary science.

Please check out Issue 1 and share with your networks to help us spread the word.

The second issue highlights some of the exciting science supported by Europlanet's transnational access program, including an experimental project to recreate Martian flows in the lab, field campaigns in Botswana and Greenland, and virtual access to facilities in Korea.

This network currently provides access to 16 different telescope facilities distributed all over the world, with telescopes up to 2 meters in diameter, 14 of which are either robotic or provide service observations, and continue to operate despite COVID-19. Proposals are invited on any topic broadly related to Solar System or exoplanet observations. Short proposals (max 3 pages) and can be submitted at any time; decisions on funding are made on a bi-monthly basis.

Further details on the call and on how to apply can be found at the call website [https://bit.ly/2Br5LDt]; our telescope table [https://bit.ly/31zYpa1] holds a broad range of information and contact data on all the facilities in the network. To apply, please contact the relevant facilities first, agree on observing time, and then submit your funding proposal. If you have further questions on the call or if you are interested in organizing a coordinated observations campaign that would like to make use of the Europlanet Telescope Network, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Proposals are also invited for support to host workshops on any topic related to observational planetary science. Europlanet is particularly keen to support meetings bringing together professional and amateur astronomers, and/or on observations supporting space missions, but all relevant topics will be considered. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to propose ideas or for more information.