Join us for this RAS Specialist Discussion Meeting on Planetary Seismology.
We are entering a new era of planetary seismology, building on the strong foundation of terrestrial studies and propelled by the success of missions such as InSight on Mars. Lunar initiatives such as the Farside Seismic Suite and Chang’e-8 aim to build on Apollo’s legacy, while diverse extra-terrestrial targets like Titan, Europa and Venus promise insights into habitability and tectonics. The coming decades offer an unparalleled opportunity to explore planetary interiors and advance our understanding of their formation, evolution, and potential for life. This workshop will bring together researchers to discuss the next steps in probing planetary interiors—one of the last frontiers in our solar system. We welcome presentations on a range of planetary seismology topics including:
- Advances in planetary seismic investigations: novel analysis techniques, alternative detection methods, instrumentation improvements, and seismic source characterization
- Seismology across the solar system, encompassing telluric bodies and icy moons
- Concepts for future planetary seismology missions
- Maximizing science return through interdisciplinary collaboration
- Terrestrial analogue experiments
Confirmed speakers so far include Tiachi Kawamura (IPGP), Ralph Lorenz (Johns Hopkins), Christopher Mankovich (JPL), Iris van Zelst (University of Edinburgh), Constantinos Charalambous (Imperial) and Nicholas Schmerr (University of Maryland)/Benjamin Fernando (Los Alamos National Laboratory).
Schedule:
10:00 – 10:30 Registration and coffee
10:30 – 11:00 Taichi Kawamura: 50 Years of Lunar seismology and the next 10 years
11:00 – 11:30 Constantinos Charalambous: How well did Mars mix? Seismic evidence for fine-scale mantle heterogeneity
11:30 – 12:00 Iris van Zelst: Seismicity on Venus: prediction and detection
12:00 – 12:05 Maaike Gol: Evaluating the detection of the Martian inner core using InSight seismic data
12:05 – 12:15 Tom Pike (TBC)
12:15 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 14:00 Nicholas Schmerr/Ben Fernando (remote): Impacts: flash monitoring and seismology for Artemis and beyond
14:00 – 14:30 Ralph Lorenz: Development of the Dragonfly Geophysics and Meteorology Package (DraGMet) to understand Titan’s interior and surface environment
14:30 – 15:00 Christopher Mankowicz (remote): An Era of Giant Planet Seismology?
15:00 – 15:30 Panel Discussion and Q&A
If you would like to attend please Register with the RAS here.
Bristol Planetary Seismology Meetings, April 9th & 10th, 2026 