Third Workshop on

‘Titan Chemistry – Observations, Experiments, Computations, and Modeling’

Caribe Hilton Hotel, San Juan, PR, February 26-28, 2009

Saturn’s moon Titan is the only solar system body besides Earth and Venus with a thick atmosphere and is widely considered as a natural laboratory on the planetary scale to understand the prebiotic che­mis­try on proto-Earth. The Cassini-Huygens mission to Titan has opened a new chapter in Solar System exploration and extraterrestrial atmospheric chemistry. On January 14, 2005, the Huygens probe successfully descended through the atmosphere of Titan and safely landed on its surface. An extraordinary new world has been unveiled. The scientific data obtained by the Huygens experi­ments and by the Cassini Orbiter - currently being archived and analyzed – are far from being understood.

This workshop is part of the NSF-Collaborative Research in Chemistry (CRC) Network "Chemistry of Unsaturated Hydrocarbons in Titan's Atmosphere” and the second in a series of annual meetings aimed to better understand the hydrocarbon chemistry taking place in the atmosphere and on the surface of Titan. It brings together atmospheric modelers, astronomical observers, mission specialists, planetary scientists, phy­­si­cal chemists (dynamics, kinetics, photochemistry), theoreticians (electronic struc­ture, dyna­mics calculations), astrobiologists, and or­ganic chemists. By focusing on the interplay between observational & mis­sion data, modeling, and funda­mental investigations of the underlying chemical reactions and photochemical processes, we also seek emerging generalized concepts on the che­mical pro­cessing of hydrocarbon-rich atmospheres of planets and their moons in the Solar System. By exploring the current boundaries of planetary science and chemical know­ledge, we can more effectively design new laboratory experiments under well-defined con­ditions (and recommend promising directions for further observational searches) and upcoming Solar System missions to resolve hitherto unanswered aspects of molecular syn­the­sis in our Solar System.

The workshop features invited (35 min + 10 min discussion) as well as contributed talks (20 min + 5 min discussion) as well as several keynote speakers. The meeting will include a mix of observation, experiments (ion and neutral chemistry; gas phase and condensed phase), theory, and modeling. Please register before December 31, 2008, using the pdf or word registration form and make hotel reservations using the link below. For additional questions, please email to asuits@chem.wayne.edu. We are looking forward to seeing you in San Juan.

Conference Location and Accomodation

The Workshop will be held at the Caribe Hilton Hotel and will begin with registration and a reception in the evening on Wednesday February 25, with Gordon conference  style sessions beginning the next morning and continuing through mid-day on  Saturday the 28th. We plan excursions to Arecibo and to the rainforest for those interested. Please use the Hotel Site.

Confirmed Speakers

S. Atreya – University of Michigan
J. M. Bowman – Emory University
A. Coustenis – Observatoire de Meudon
T. E. Cravens – University of Kansas
R.I. Kaiser – University of Hawaii
R. Lorenz – Johns Hopkins University
A.M. Mebel – Florida International University
D. Osborn – Sandia National Laboratory
Thomas Orlando, Georgia Tech

D. Schroeder – IOCB, Prague
S. Le Picard - University of Rennes
Paul Romani - NASA
M. Smith – University of Arizona
A. G. Suits – Wayne State University
Pascal Rannou - Universite de Versailles-St-Quentin
M. Tolbert- University of Colorado
V. Vuitton - Grenoble
D. Ascenzi -Univ. Trento
R. Yelle - Univ. Arizona

<>