Planetary Science: The Young Solar System

For decades scientific researchers have wondered how the solar system formed and evolved. This active field of research is populated with cosmochemists, planetary scientists, geologists, geophysicists and astronomers, among others, who all try to unravel what happened over 4.5 billion years ago. Yet despite all these international efforts the nature of the formation and evolution of the young solar system and the proclivity of the terrestrial planets to support a (long-term) biosphere remains obscure. It makes sense at this time to synthesis what we know, highlight key points of agreement and contention, and to provide recommendations for scientific progress.