The Radio Science Laboratory of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Sapienza University of Rome, led by Prof. Luciano Iess, specializes in radio science, planetary geodesy, and the analysis of radio tracking data from interplanetary spacecraft.
The team actively contributes to some of the most prominent ESA and NASA space missions (see our activities), and has made significant scientific advances in geophysics, orbit determination, and fundamental physics—often in collaboration with leading research institutions worldwide.
Prof. Luciano Iess serves as the Principal Investigator (PI) for the radio science instruments on board ESA’s BepiColombo and JUICE missions, leading the MORE and 3GM experiments, respectively.
The Radio Science Laboratory maintains strong collaborative ties with both national and international research centers, including the University of Bologna, the University of Pisa, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the Goddard Space Flight Center, the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), the Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur (France), and many others.