What's "Space and Planetary Sciences"?

Planetary and space science (PS) section of JpGU covers “understanding of the present physical processes in solar-terrestrial space and planets” including human activities, “understanding of formation mechanism of planetary system” with a time-scale of few hundred million years, “Exploration of habitable planets” related to the birth of life, and “universal understanding of life-friendly environment” in cosmos. The scientific researches in this field have been conducted at various scales from small-sized targets investigated with a microscope to large-sized subjects, such as interplanetary space, planetary system or interstellar cloud. One of the most characteristic activities of this research field must be a spacecraft project, which involves a large variety of methodologies, such as exploration, observation, laboratory experiment and analysis, and numerical simulation. Since there are not a small number of scientists in PS section community have good experiences in observation in space, collaborative activities with other research fields, including other geoscience fields, engineering, environmental science, and life science, is greatly expected.