The first Europlanet Regional Hub outside Europe, Europlanet Colombia, was launched on 8 November 2025 during an event attended by 120 people at the Maloka Interactive Science and Technology Centre in Bogotá.
The inauguration event highlighted some of the most significant national research initiatives that relate to planetary science and provided an opportunity to find out more about and engage with Colombians who work in this area. Speakers included Dr Alejandro Guerrero-Caicedo (Universidad del Valle) and Dr Alberto Benavides-Herrán (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana) who travelled from Cali to attend. Members of RECA Educación, winners of the Europlanet Prize for Public Engagement 2025, gave a presentation on their work to engage schools and students across Colombia. Video messages were sent by Dr Heidy M. Quitián-Lara, Dr Felipe Fantuzzi, Dr Jonathan Pelegrin and Dr Tatiana Bocanegra, as well as Prof Nigel Mason, the former President of Europlanet.
The aim of Europlanet Colombia is to create a space where knowledge and passion for the cosmos intertwine, promoting collaborative networks that will drive the region’s scientific future and strengthen high-impact research. This new Europlanet contact point in Colombia will foster collaboration on cutting-edge projects across a wide range of disciplines, including:
Solar System Bodies
Astrobiology and the Origins of Life
Planetary Formation and Evolution
Planetary Environments
Space Exploration and Instrumentation
Planetary Geosciences
Astrochemistry
Astronomical Instrumentation, Data Acquisition, Management, and Analysis
Science Education and Public Outreach
Heritage Astronomy and Indigenous Knowledge Systems
Jessie Hogan (The Open University, UK) and Nimisha Verma (DLR, Germany), Co-Chairs of the Europlanet Early Career (EPEC) Network, give a status update and describe future plans to expand EPEC’s community and activities.
MoonIndex: A Tool to Democratise Prospecting for Minerals on the Moon
Javier Eduardo Suárez Valencia of the University of Padova (Italy) reports how Europlanet’s development of an open-source tool to study the mineralogy of the Moon has led to the discovery of new lunar features.
The Insiders’ Guide to Industry Engagement
Anita Heward, Editor of the Europlanet Magazine, introduces a special focus on industry and the importance of academia-industrial links for the planetary science community.
Planetary Perspectives: Knowledge Transfer
In this edition of Planetary Perspectives, Geraint (Taff) Morgan shares insights on working with industry and knowledge transfer.
Climbing the Mountain of Knowledge Transfer
Elena Benedetto (University of Geneva/NCCR PlanetS, Switzerland) explores how the NCCR PlanetS Technology and Innovation Platform (TIP) has helped shape innovation, industry relations and instrumentation development for the Swiss community of planetary sciences.
Mauve: An Ultraviolet Trailblazer for Commercial Science Satellites Made in Europe
Yoga Barrathwaj Raman Mohan and the team at Blue Skies Space (UK and Italy) describe how the company is taking a new approach to delivering data from science satellites to the global science community.
A Laboratory’s Journey into Space
Mihály Veres, former CEO of Isotoptech, describes how the development of a company to provide research and development, manufacturing and laboratory measurement services has supported research activities from nuclear power to the heart of our Solar System.
Tumbleweed Rovers – A New Paradigm of Martian Exploration
James Kingsnorth, Head of Science at Team Tumbleweed (Netherlands), describes how technological innovation by a startup could drive large-scale, low-cost exploration of the Red Planet.
Spacetek Technology: From Academia to Industrial Innovation
Maximilian Rothenberger, Chief Executive Officer (CEO)/Head of Sales and Jürg Jost, Chief Technology Officer (CTO)/Co-Founder of Spacetek Technology AG (Switzerland), describe how a university spin-out has become a leading innovator in both industrial and space technologies.
Commkit – Challenge: Inspire the Next Generation
In his column on science communication, Thibaut Roger (University of Bern/NCCR PlanetS, Switzerland) discusses how competitions and challenges can link education, outreach and industry.
The Last Word – Shaping Our Planetary Identity
Stavro Lambrov Ivanovski, Vice President of Europlanet, reflects on two decades of activities and the road ahead for Europlanet.
Planetary Perspectives: Meet the New Europlanet Society Board
This edition of Planetary Perspectives highlights opportunities within space industry for early careers in an interview with Yoga Barrathwaj Raman Mohan (Blue Skies Space Ltd/Europlanet Industry Team).
Europlanet Telescope Network: Small-Scale Facilities Lead to Large-Scale Successes
As the Europlanet Telescope Network celebrates its fourth birthday, Gražina Tautvaišienė (Vilnius University, Lithuania), Guenter Kargl (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria) and Anita Heward (University of Kent, UK) reflect on the achievements to date.
Engaging With Embassies
Nigel Mason (Coordinator of Europlanet 2024 RI) gives guidance on how to approach embassies and an example of the outcome of a collaboration between embassies in the UK and Hungary.
Little Venus in the Middle of the Atlantic
Uli Köhler (DLR, Germany) reports on an expedition to Iceland that is helping to prepare for NASA and ESA missions to Venus at the beginning of the next decade.
The Future of Sample Return
Peter McArdle, Hans Huybrighs, J D Prasanna Deshapriya and Ottaviano Rüsch of the Europlanet Early Careers (EPEC) Future Research Working Group interview Enrica Bonato, who developed the sample return lab at at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Berlin.
SPIDER: Supporting Space Weather Studies Through the Solar System
Nicolas André (Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, France) and Andrea Opitz (HUN-REN Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Hungary) describe how Europlanet’s SPIDER services are supporting planetary space weather studies and Solar System missions.
Beautiful But Not Hospitable – A Sensory Tour of the Solar System’s Planets
Anita Heward (Europlanet/University of Kent, UK) and Thibaut Roger (University of Bern, Switzerland) report on reactions to an unusual scent at the Swiss Comic Con.
Workshops for Global Collaboration
Barbara Cavalazzi (University of Bologna, Italy) reviews a series of workshops organised by Europlanet in Africa and South America.
Stories of Planetary Mapping
Riccardo Pozzobon and Matteo Massironi (University of Padova, Italy) explains how Europlanet’s GMAP activity has created infrastructure to support geological mappers around the world.
Commkit – Should You Augment or Virtualise Your Reality?
Thibaut Roger (University of Bern/NCCR PlanetS, Switzerland) examines how to incorporate VR and AR in your outreach and communication.
The Last Word – Europlanet Beyond 2024
Ann Carine Vandaele, President of the Europlanet Society, and Nigel Mason, Coordinator of the Europlanet 2024 Research Infrastructure (RI) reveal a new phase for Europlanet.
The first planetary science workshop in Bolivia is underway! The workshop is being held over four days at the Institute for Geological and Environmental Research (Instituto de Investigaciones Geologicas y del Medio Ambiente UMSA) in La Paz, Bolivia. It is part of the Europlanet Workshop Series, organised by the Global Collaboration and Integration Task of the Europlanet 2024 Research Infrastructure (RI) project.
The purpose of the workshop is to provide tools for the processing and mapping of planetary surfaces, exploring different planets and analogous environments in Bolivia and Latin America.
Catch up on YouTube:
This workshop is supported through the Europlanet 2024 RI project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 871149.
Europlanet 2024 RI has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 871149.
Europlanet AISBL (Association Internationale Sans But Lucratif – 0800.634.634) is hosted by the Department of Planetary Atmospheres of the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB), Avenue Circulaire 3, B-1180 Brussels, Belgium.
