3rd Conference on Terrestrial Mars Analogues

This is the third conference on Mars analogue studies. The first two were held at Catania (Italy) in 2002 and Trento (Italy) 2007. Since the Trento Conference the interest in Mars analogues has increased enormously, as indicated by the large number of recent books, papers, and journal special issues which have been published on analogues and in support of future Mars surface missions.

The analysis of Mars analogue environments on Earth is of paramount importance for the interpretation of the data from past, present and future orbital and landed missions, as well as mission planning (both robotic and human). Sedimentary environments in particular attract strong interest because they can retain the palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental history of the planet and under the right conditions may harbour fossil or present life signatures.

Potential themes to be discussed at the meeting are:

• Life and habitability on Mars and Earth
• Sedimentary environments and stratigraphic successions
• Cold and hot environments and processes on Earth and Mars
• Volcanism and tectonics
• Impact processes
• Laboratory and simulants
• Strategies for past life detection in sediments and rocks
• Noachian Mars and Archean Earth
• Spacecraft instrument field testing and robotic operation in Mars analogue environments
• Human exploration and testing