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            From Exoplanets to Distant Galaxies:
        SPICA's New Window on the Cool Universe
               18-21 June, 2013 Tokyo, Japan
                  -- 1st Announcement --
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 We invite you to the international conference on the science enabled
 by the SPICA (Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics)
 mission, to be held on 18-21 June, 2013. The conference is open to
 interested scientists from around the world, and will take place at
 venue in/around Tokyo, Japan that will be finalized soon.

 SPICA is the next-generation, space infrared observatory, following
 in the footsteps of IRAS,ISO, Spitzer, AKARI and Herschel. With a
 cryogenically cooled 3 m telescope, SPICA will have high spatial
 resolution and unprecedented sensitivity in the mid- and far-infrared.
 These unique capabilities of SPICA will bridge the gap between
 ALMA/large submm ground telescopes and JWST/large ground opt.-IR
 telescopes, and enable astronomers to address a number of key problems
 in present-day astronomy that encompass diverse research areas
 from the formation of planets to the star-formation history of the
 Universe. SPICA is proposed as a Japanese-led mission, together with
 extensive international collaboration, and is targeted for launch in
 2022, and has a nominal mission lifetime of three years.

 The primary aims of the conference are to introduce the scientific
 capabilities of the SPICA mission to the international community,
 and to begin discussions in the IR community on how to optimally
 utilise this new facility to further explore the physical processes
 in the formation and evolution of planets, stars and galaxies.

 The conference will be held over a period of four days. Time will be
 set aside to provide an overview of the SPICA mission and the
 instruments, but the focus of the conference will be on scientific
 sessions divided up into several main themes, including cosmological
 surveys, extragalactic astronomy, astro-chemistry, and planet formation.
 The science sessions will include invited and contributed talks, with
 poster sessions interspersed to address the results of research to
 date as well as plans forward towards establishing observation programs
 for the SPICA mission. Ample time will be reserved for discussions.

 Further details on the conference will soon be available from the
 website below:
 http://www.ir.isas.jaxa.jp/SPICA/spica2013/ 

 We look forward to seeing you at the conference.
 
 Science Organizing Committee of the SPICA Conference 2013


[Science Organizing Committee members ]

   Hideo Matsuhara (Chair, JAXA, Japan)
   Lee Armus (SSC, USA)
   Edwin Bergin (UMichigan, USA)
   Ewine van Dishoeck (Leiden University, Netherlands)
   Peter Roelfsema (SRON/Groningen, NL)
   Keigo Enya (JAXA, Japan)
   Paul Ho (ASIAA, Taiwan)
   Takashi Ichikawa (Tohoku, Univ., Japan)
   Myungshin Im (SNU, Korea)
   Kate Isaak (ESA, Netherlands)
   Hidehiro Kaneda (Nagoya Univ., Japan)
   Hirokazu Kataza (JAXA, Japan)
   Dae-Hee Lee (KASI, Korea)
   Takao Nakagawa (JAXA, Japan)
   Eckhard Sturm (MPE, Germany)
   Motohide Tamura (NAOJ, Japan)
   Rens Waters (SRON, Netherlands)