These projects involve international teams from all over the world, supported by the space agencies of the participating countries.
We are responsible for:
– GIADA, one of the instruments flown onboard the Rosetta/ESA space probe, characterized the dust in the come of comet 67P/C-G from 2014 to 2016.
– JANUS, the high-resolution camera, under development to be integrated onboard the JUICE/ESA space mission that will be launched in 2022 towards Jupiter and its icy satellites, with a focus on habitability.
– HRIC/Symbiosis, integrated onboard the BepiColombo/ESA space probe launched in 2018 will image Mercury surface.
We are co-responsible for:
– DISC, part of the payload of Comet Interceptor/ESA space mission, which will be launched in 2028 to study the dust ejected by a dynamically new comet or an interstellar object. For this mission we also have the role of National Co-Principal Investigator.
– DUSTER/ASI, designed to collect extraterrestrial dust in the Earth upper stratosphere onboard stratospheric balloons. Since 2006 completed successfully 7 flight campaigns.
We collaborate to:
– Licia Cube/ASI nano-satellite, part of the DART NASA space mission, dedicated to study the effects caused by the impact of the main probe on the surface of a satellite of a binary asteroidal system. Launch foreseen in 2021.
– Feasibility study of a VIS-NIR camera, to be onboard on TIR-FreeFlyer/NASA mission for Earth Observation. Selection process in 2020.
Questions regarding these space projects may be directed to Prof. Pasquale Palumbo ( pasquale.palumbo@uniparthenope.it ) (link sends e-mail) & to Prof. Alessandra Rotundi ( alessandra.rotundi@uniparthenope.it).