************************************************************************
IERS Message No. 543                                   December 16, 2025
************************************************************************


COSPAR 2026: Genesis Session - Call for Abstracts


Dear Colleagues,

The ESA Genesis mission is taking speed and the scientific community is
preparing for the launch of the geodetic satellite in 2029. The Genesis
session at the upcoming COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) Scientific
Meeting from 01.-09. August 2026 in Florence, Italy, associated to the
Panel on Satellite Dynamics (PSD), is an opportunity to present and
discuss status, results, methodologies, ideas.

Consider to submit an abstract for
PSD.2: Genesis - COSPAR Scientific Meeting
01.-09. August 2026, Florence, Italy

The abstract deadline is February 13, 2026. Below you find the session
description and the important dates and links.

Looking forward to meet you in Florence!
Urs Hugentobler
Krzysztof Sosnica
Johannes Boehm

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Session description:

Genesis is a mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) approved for
launch in 2029. It realizes all major space ties on a satellite in a
near-polar orbit at about 6000 km altitude, connecting two GNSS antennas
connected to a common receiver, an SLR retroreflector, a DORIS receiver
and a dedicated VLBI transmitter.

The ESA mission Genesis will provide well-calibrated space ties for all
space geodetic techniques, GNSS, SLR, VLBI, DORIS, benefiting the
realization of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame and
supporting the goal to achieve a reference frame precision of 1mm and
stability of 0.1mm/yr, revealing inconsistencies between techniques.
The consistent ITRF realization with Genesis-based space ties and
precise orbit determination based on all space geodetic techniques
require the development of new processing and combination strategies. 

In preparation of the Genesis mission this session aims to discuss the
status, scientific opportunities and challenges of the exploitation of
the mission. Contributions are solicited from, but not limited to, the
following areas: 
(1) status of the mission and the instruments onboard,
(2) calibration strategies,
(3) scenarios for the utilization of Genesis including new scientific
    opportunities,
(4) observation strategies,
(5) Genesis orbit modelling,
(6) Genesis orbit determination using the different techniques,
(7) combination at the observation level and other combination strategies,
(8) experiences with exploitation of already available space ties on
    current satellite missions,
(9) simulation studies on impact of Genesis,
(10) future ITRF realizations using new types of observations.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abstract submission deadline:    February 13, 2026 
Notification of acceptance:      April 13, 2026
Early bird registration closes:  May 17, 2026

The Assembly web page address is:
  https://www.cospar-assembly.org
The Call for Abstracts may be found at:
  [https://issuu.com/jccospar/docs/call_for_abstracts_2026?fr=sMzY4Njg3M
   zM2Njg]

(Please note that due to message formatting constraints, the link may
appear split into two lines. When accessing it, ensure you copy and
paste the entire URL into your browser.)


************************************************************************
IERS Messages are edited and distributed by the IERS Central Bureau.
If not stated otherwise, the IERS is only the distributor of the message
and is not responsible for its content.
To submit texts for distribution, please write to
<central_bureau@iers.org>.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please create an IERS account or modify it:
https://www.iers.org/Login/Login/EN/login_node.html
or write to <central_bureau@iers.org>.
Archives: http://www.iers.org/IERS/Messages
************************************************************************