Objectives

• Provide the first community-wide focused forum in over 15 years for scientists involved in the study of the solar wind interaction and upper atmosphere of Mars and other bodies.
  
  
• Summarize the current understanding and outstanding questions in the field.
  
  
• Facilitate movement from a phenomenological description of the Mars atmosphere/solar wind interface to a physical understanding of the responsible processes.
  
  
• Place the many recent spacecraft observations and simulation results in context with each other and past work.
  
  
• Compare the Martian interaction and upper atmosphere to those at other solar system bodies.
  
  
• Promote the cross-fertilization of research ideas for Mars by attracting experts from a variety of research backgrounds, perspectives, and fields, as well as new-comers to Mars-related research.
  
  
• Address 5 fundamental science questions about the interaction of the solar wind with Mars:
  
  1. How is the structure of the interaction region formed and maintained?
  2. How do crustal magnetic fields affect the interaction locally and globally?
  3. How does the interaction affect upper atmospheric structure and escape?
  4. How do models implement the physics and variability of the system?
  5. How does the Martian environment compare to other solar system bodies?