The Swiss Institute for Planetary Sciences (SIPS) promotes and coordinates research, education and technology development in planetary sciences, covering the exploration of our Solar System and the expanding field of exoplanets. SIPS furthers the successful networking and community building activities of the National Center for Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS which was sponsored by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
The main bodies of SIPS act to coordinate the scientific activities across the association members, while 5 “technical platforms” (Science, Education and Equity, Technology and Innovation, Data and Computing, and Communication and Outreach) provide a range of high-level services to its User Community. The User community comprises over 250 users including scientists, students, engineers and support staff. The activities of SIPS are aimed at having a strong societal and academic impact at the level of its institutional members, at national level, and at international level where a united Swiss position will provide a coordinated voice at the forefront of planetary sciences in one of the most exciting periods in the history of space exploration.
The SIPS association founding members will be the University of Bern, the University of Geneva, the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich.