Special Sessions
Recovering freshly fallen meteorites
The rapid expansion of meteor and fireball camera networks across the world has driven discoveries about the nature and origin of extraterrestrial materials entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Fireball observations can be used to reconstruct a meteoroids physical characteristics and pre-atmospheric orbit and calculate the location of any rocks on the ground, providing crucial Solar System context for our meteorite collections. This session will focus on all topics related to meteorite recovery, including observation methods, dark flight and strewn field modelling, new methods (e.g., drones, AI, public engagement) for meteorite searches, and lessons learnt from recent falls.
A special multi-topic session to remember Ed Scott (1947-2021)
The meeting will include a special session comprising both oral presentations and posters to remember Ed Scott. Those wishing to pay tribute to Ed in this session are invited to submit an abstract relating to any of the diverse topics that Ed worked on and enjoyed talking about during his long, productive career. The organizers believe that a session unrestricted to any specific topic is something Ed would have appreciated. Contributors to the session are encouraged to develop their abstracts into full papers for publication in a planned special issue of Meteoritics & Planetary Science dedicated to Ed, following the meeting.
The Moon after Chang’e 5
Our understanding of the Moons geological history is constantly being challenged and revised by data from new lunar samples, re-analysis of existing samples, and integration with knowledge from new missions and models. In December 2020 the Chang’e 5 mission collected 1.7 kg of regolith from the northern part of Oceanus Procellarum, sampling the youngest lava from on the Moon to date. This session is an opportunity to discuss celebrate the success of and results from the Change-5 mission samples, to present new research on lunar meteorites, Apollo samples and the Luna collections, and to discuss mission or experiment results that provide key context for lunar sample analysis.
Samples and observation of asteroid Ryugu, Bennu and Psyche
Space exploration missions provide opportunities to link meteorites in the terrestrial collection to Solar-System celestial bodies. This session focuses on proximity observation of small bodies and samples returned by spacecraft to discuss the alteration/differentiation/evolution of those bodies and to compare them with meteorites.