Asteroids
Laboratory Activity
The study of minor bodies of our Solar System, and in particular the asteroids, has experienced an intense development over the last decade. Asteroids are an interdisciplinary topic that not only concerns Astronomy, Astrophysics and Celestial Mechanics, but also Geology, Mineralogy and Physics of Materials. Recent studies have highlighted the extreme complexity of the physical mechanisms that underlie the formation and evolution of these objects, leading to large changes of paradigm in the interpretation of observational data.
Our team works on asteroids analogue sample. We investigate thermal modification of mineral spectra in space simulated conditions with the aim of creating a spectroscopic database of mineral dust with different sizes in the wavelengths range from visible to far infrared at different temperature. This kind of analysis is carry out with the unique IR facility available in the lab which allow in the same experimental apparatus the collection of spectra from VIS to FIR wavelengths in a broad temperature range from cryogenic to high temperature. We are also involved in the study, both experimental and modelling, of the effects of grain size and different mineral composition on spectral features.
Team members are part of Science Team of space mission towards this small important bodies both for laboratory support in data interpretation and sample return analysis.
OSIRIS-REx mission
The OSIRIS-REx is a NASA asteroid study and sample-return mission. Launched on 8 September 2016, its mission is to study asteroid 101955 Bennu, a carbonaceous asteroid, and return a sample to Earth on 24 September 2023 for detailed analysis. The material returned is expected to enable scientists to learn more about the formation and evolution of the Solar System, its initial stages of planet formation, and the source of organic compounds that led to the formation of life on Earth.
The payload of the spacecraft carries a suite of instruments that will study the asteroid in many wavelengths, as well as image the asteroid, and retrieve a physical sample to return to Earth. During the three years orbiting the asteroids OSIRIS-REx will perform a lot of analysis and observations in order to improve our knowledge on asteroids and to choose the proper site for the sample collection. From organics and mineralogical point of view the most important instruments for remote sensing are the two spectrometer OTES and OVIRS. Data collected from these instruments are fundamental to understand the morphology and composition of the regolith on the surface of the asteroids.
DART-LICIACube mission
DART is a NASA planetary defence-driven test of technologies for preventing an impact of Earth by a hazardous asteroid. The main spacecraft will host a cubesat provided by ASI to image the impact and the dust plume.
Our laboratory is involved in both DART and LICIACube space mission. Laboratory activities support remote sensing and ground observation of the mission target asteroid binary system Dydimos with laboratory activities. We are part of the science team of both DART and LICIACube cubesat with the aim of imaging the impact and dust plume.
Dawn mission
The Dawn was a space probe launched by NASA in September 2007 with the mission of studying two of the three known protoplanets of the asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres. The mission ended on 1st November 2018. It was the first spacecraft orbited two different celestial bodies and the first mission
Our laboratory was involved in remote sensing data interpretation trough laboratory mixing of endmembers mineral and organic material.
MMX InfraRed Spectrometer (MIRS) is an instrument build by LESIA - Observatorie de Paris for the JAXA MMX sample return mission aimed to explore Phobos and Deimos the two moon of Mars. MIRS will be tasked with identifying minerals on the surface of Phobos and Deimos from their spectral signature helping in the goal of unraveling whether the moons' origin is due to the capture of two super-primitive asteroids or a planetroid collision with Mars.
Our laboratory is involved in laboratory support and and in the definition of a database that will be fundamental for the interpretation of the data acquired by MIRS.