Programme and Presentations

Day One:  21 September 2016  8:00-23:00

8:00 Registration opens. Coffee/Tea/Refreshments

9:00 Greetings. Introduction. Conference Overview  15 min

  • Opening: Marc Serres, Luxembourg Ministry of Economy - Space Affairs, Luxembourg ESA Liason, 
  • Conference Overview:  Amara Graps, Planetary Science Institute / University of Latvia / Deep Space Industries Latvia

9:15 I. Open Questions from the Asteroid Mining companies

10:00 II. Asteroid Surrounding Environment

The "surrounding" means that it would be the first phase of a mission that will ultimately land. This session would cover what we can learn about the relevant global properties before landing and how a landing site might be selected.

10:30-10:50 COFFEE BREAK 

12:05-13:35 LUNCH

14:35 III. Asteroid Surface Environment

Detection methods that are are on top of the surface or  near-surface, say 1 meter down. This session would cover asteroid: regolith, polarimetry, neutron, gamma ray spectroscopy, radar, and thermal inertia studies, space weathering, asteroid-meteorite laboratory  links, electrostatic studies, shape modelers (photometry or radar could be considered 'subsurface too).

15:05-15:25 COFFEE BREAK

18:00-19:00 A Tour of the Bock Area by Elisabete Nuno

This is a good opportunity to go outside and stretch one’s legs. The Bock is the 1000- year-old wall surrounding the Abbey, that one can see from the Abbey’s windows. We are offering the ASIME 2016 participants a tour by the Luxembourg tour guide: Elisabete Nuno. The ASIME 2016 dinner is a walking, cocktail dinner, which formally starts at 19:00. As it is is a cocktail dinner, you needn’t worry to be in place at a table.  If you’re enjoying the Bock, then take your time on return.

The Bock Promontory and the Bock Casemates next the Abbey

In the year 963, Siegfried, Count of Ardenne, came into possession of the rock through bartering with the Abbey of St Maximin in Trier. For ages, this rocky ledge, on which Count Siegfried was to set up his castle, had been playing a strategically crucial role. As it was surrounded on three sides by the Alzette valley and only accessible from the west, defending it was quite easy. From this vantage point we look out on a magnificent panorama of the Alzette valley with the suburbs of Grund, Clausen and Pfaffenthal. Below the street the archeological crypt and the Bock Casemates are hewn into the rock. The longest casemates of the world are Luxembourg City’s tourist top attraction. Their underground galleries carved into the rock were part of the fortress’ defence system. 

Luxembourg City Tourist Office Bock Casemates Information: www.lcto.lu/en/place/monument/bock-casemates 

19:00-23:00 Social Event

Cocktail Dinner at the Abbey.

Day Two: 22 September 2016  8:00-17:00

8:00 Coffee/Tea/Refreshments

8:30 IV. Asteroid Subsurface Environment

Subsurface means asteroid interior properties. This session would include thermal modelling, rubble-pile cohesive strength studies,  collisional disruption, penetrator instruments/methods, porosity studies, quantity of water and volatiles --which ties into Nice dynamical studies  for asteroid formation location.

10:00-10:20 COFFEE BREAK

Ian Carnelli Leading Session V 

The intention of this session is to listen to the concerns of the planetary protection and the planetary defense community and their intersections with asteroid mining.

12:05-13:35 LUNCH

14:20-17:00 VI. Conclusions 

15:00-15:20 COFFEE BREAK

  • Q & A Panel of all Keynote Speakers (cont’d.)
  • White Paper Discussion & Collection of Questions and Answers (cont’d.)

17:00 END OF CONFERENCE