PSI’s Isaac Smith was the lead convener for the Seventh International Conference on Mars Polar Science and Exploration that took place in Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina. PSI’s Candy Hansen also attended the event, which drew 73 attendees from around the world.
The conference aimed to highlight and define the current state of Mars polar research, pulling together expertise from many fields, including geology, atmospheric science, and climate science.
“We talked about the climate record stored in the north and south polar layered deposits, the off-polar icy deposits around the planet, atmospheric processes, including the dust, water, and CO2 cycles,” Smith said. “We discussed laboratory experiments that teach us about Mars ice, ice-atmosphere, and ice-rock interactions. We also discussed terrestrial analogues that teach us about Martian processes.”
