The European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) 2010 will take place at the Angelicum Centre - Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Rome, Italy, from Sunday 19 September to Friday 24 September 2010.

The EPSC is the major European meeting on planetary science and attracts scientists from Europe and around the World.

The 2010 program will cover a wide range of planetary topics, including new results from Mars, impact processes in the Solar System, chemical evolution and early planetary life, comparative planetology beyond the Solar System, exploring Martian moons and the Rosetta flybys of asteroids 2867 Steins and 21 Lutetia. More than 900 abstracts for oral presentations and posters have been submitted.

The EPSC has a distinctively interactive style, with a mix of talks, workshops and posters, intended to provide a stimulating environment for discussion.

EPSC 2010 is organized by Europlanet, a Research Infrastructure funded under the European Commission's Framework 7 Programme, in association with the European Geosciences Union, with the support of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) and the INAF Institute of Physics of Interplanetary Space (IFSI) in Rome.

EPSC also promotes dissemination of Planetary Science through a chain of events for the general public: INAF is organizing three public conferences in the cloister of San Pietro in Vincoli, the historical building of Engineering Faculty of the University of Rome, "La Sapienza". INAF is also arranging an open air exhibition to be located beside the historical and artistic monuments of Rome.

On the evening of September 18th, to celebrate the beginning of EPSC 2010, a Moon Watch Party will take place in the historical centre of Rome. The event, promoted by NASA, will be organized in Italy by INAF with the support of Italian Union of Amateurs Astronomers (UAI).