The Europlanet Science Congress 2025 will be held jointly with the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division of Planetary Science (EPSC-DPS2025) from 7–12 September 2025 at Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, Finland. With around 1800 participants expected to join in person and online, it will be the largest planetary science meeting held to date in Europe.
Press briefings will be livestreamed and press notices on presentations of interest to the media will be issued by the EPSC-DPS2025 Press Office during the meeting.
Two press briefings will be held during the week:
- Monday, 08 September 2025. Topic: RAMSES mission to asteroid Apophis
- Thursday, 11 September 2025. Topic: Recent Discoveries with the Juno Mission.
To attend press briefings in-person, please register as media for EPSC-DPS2025 by emailing press@europlanet.org. The press briefings will take place in the Press Conference Room, which can be accessed from the Press Entrance to the Congress Wing on the Mannerheimintie side of Finlandia Hall. To attend online, please follow the Zoom registration links below.
16:30-17:15 EEST (UTC+3), Monday, 08 September 2025
EPSC-DPS2025 Press Briefing: Update on the RAMSES mission to asteroid Apophis
ESA’s Space Safety programme has started preparatory work for its next planetary defence candidate mission – the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (RAMSES). Its main objective is the characterisation of the asteroid (99942) Apophis before, during and after its close encounter with Earth in April 2029. The findings will provide crucial knowledge on the properties and response of a small asteroid to external actions (here, Earth’s tidal forces), and therefore improve our ability to defend our planet from any similar object found to be on a collision course in the future. The briefing will give an update on the mission goals, payload, development and international participation. Europe’s space ministers will decide at ESA’s Ministerial Council in November 2025 whether to support RAMSES for launch.
16:30 EEST: Welcome
Anita Heward, Press Officer, EPSC-DPS2025.
16:35 EEST: Speakers
- Monica Lazzarin (University of Padova) and Patrick Michel (CNRS / Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur): RAMSES science and payloads.
- Paolo Martino (RAMSES Project Manager, ESA): RAMSES project status.
- Seiji Sugita (University of Tokyo and Science Management Board of RAMSES): Japanese participation in RAMSES.
To attend online, please follow the Zoom registration link below and you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the live stream.
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cpdhR6hSQByplh6STIiz8w
12:45-13:30 EEST (UTC+3): Thursday, 11 September 2025
EPSC-DPS2025 Press Briefing: Recent Discoveries with the Juno Mission
This press briefing will focus on several recent discoveries with the Juno Mission, including in-situ and remote observations of the ultraviolet footprint of the moon Callisto by the Juno spacecraft.
12:45 EEST: Welcome
Anita Heward, Press Officer, EPSC-DPS2025
12: 50 EEST: Speakers
- Scott Bolton: Recent discoveries with Juno.
- Vincent Hue: In-situ and remote observations of the ultraviolet footprint of the moon Callisto by the Juno spacecraft.
To attend online, please follow the Zoom registration link below and you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the live stream.
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_BsLxt34oTo2z3psBWHcv5Q