Making a Habitable Planet

The Gordon Conference on Origins of Solar Systems brings together a diverse group of scientists to discuss research at the frontier of understanding how planets and planetary systems form. Invited speakers from the fields of astronomy, astrophysics, cosmochemistry, planetary science, and geochemistry will present their latest findings. At this meeting discussions will take place with a focus on how the Earth and its analogs received their inventory of volatile compounds that provide the basis for a habitable world. Particular topics of discussion include the following. How new astronomical facilities, such as the Atacama Large Millimeter Array and infrared imaging systems, are transforming our knowledge of the evolution of gas and dust in protoplanetary disks and debris systems. How planetary building blocks are assembled and whether volatiles implanted during early phases survive inside their interior. Exploring the fate of volatiles supplied to a young terrestrial planet during the epoch of impacts and core formation. How the architecture of a solar system influences planetary assembly and volatile supply. What constraints meteorites and solar system bodies provide on the chemical and physical evolution during the phase of planet formation. Within this framework we will also discuss the growing knowledge of the exoplanet inventory with emphasis on what they might tell us about their formation and subsequent evolution.