Colloquium Antonella Barucci - The JAXA sample return MMX (Martian Moon eXploration) mission
2024-03-12 11:30 - 12:30 (Europe/Rome) | Aula Gratton
The JAXA MMX mission will be launched in 2026 to Martian system to carry out three years observations of the Martian moons, and to bring back to Earth in 2031 samples (>10 g) from Phobos. The spacecraft will arrive at Mars system in 2027, injected into Phobos co-orbit, to observe Phobos and monitor Mars’ atmosphere. Deimos will be also explored by several fly-bys.
The mission is devoted to study the origin of Martian moons, to enlarge the knowledge of the Martian system and to assess the possibility of Martian life,.
The major goals of the mission are to decipher the origins of the Martian moons and constrain processes for planetary formation and material transport in the region connecting the inner and outer Solar System. From the Martian moon Phobos, MMX will investigate the transport of water and organic materials across the Solar System and explore how life and habitable environments were created. The mission will clarify the driving mechanism of the transition of the Mars-moon system and add new knowledge to the evolution history of Mars.
An imager spectrometer MIRS (MMX Infrared Spectrometer) has been requested to our team at LESIA-Paris Observatory to accomplish several of the science objective of the mission.
The status of art of the mission will be presented.

colloquium - Srefano Camera
2024-03-19 11:30 - 12:30 | Aula Gratton

colloquium Mikako Matsuura - Dust and molecules in dying stars
2024-03-26 11:30 - 12:30 | Aula Gratton
There is a large debate about how dust grains have been accumulated in the interstellar medium (ISM) of galaxies. One of the major sources of dust grains into the ISM is evolved stars, such as AGB stars, red supergiants and supernovae (SNe). On the other hand, fast-expanding SN blast waves could be so efficient that theoretical models predict that almost entire ISM dust grains ejected by stars can be wiped off by SN explosion. There are still uncertainties in dust evolution in the ISM. We present several results about studies of AGB stars, planetary nebulae (PNe) and SNe in my talk. The first part is GAIA studies of AGB stars, showing the distribution of local dust output from AGB stars. The second part is studies of dust in PN, using JWST, indicating the final re-processing of dust grains before they are integrated into the ISM. Finally, JWST observations capture how dust grains are destroyed by SN blast waves in Supernova 1987A.

colloquium - Giovanni Cresci
2024-04-23 11:30 - 12:30 | Aula Gratton

colloquium Giovanni Poggiali: Looking from micro- to macro-scale: how the exploration of the Solar System can benefit from laboratory experiments on analog and returned samples
2024-04-30 11:30 - 12:30 | Aula Gratton
The exploration of the Solar System’s rocky surfaces of planets and minor bodies using remote sensing benefits from multiple sources of data: from ground-based observations, to orbiter and lander flybys, to returned samples of extraterrestrial material. However, the more data we acquire, the more it becomes clear that our current interpretation techniques (both laboratory and modelling), although improving, are still not sufficient to fully understand our observations. Indeed, the interpretation of remote sensing data could not be separated from intensive laboratory work, which provides a powerful tool for revealing the surface physical state and composition of rocky surfaces. The analysis of complex mixtures of analogous materials remains one of the key laboratory investigations to support remote sensing interpretation, but it is also one of the most challenging experiments, especially when multiple components are used. This talk gives a general overview of the main results from the literature on the efforts to use laboratory data to interpret infrared observations. Some new measurements on the mixing effect of different grain sizes and dark materials are also presented.

colloquium - Alice Borghese
2024-05-07 11:30 - 12:30 | Aula Gratton

colloquium - Matilde Signorini
2024-05-14 11:30 - 12:30 | OAR Monte Porzio Catone – aula Gratton, Via Frascati 33, Roma, RM, 00136, Italia

colloquium - Demetra De Cicco
2024-05-21 11:30 - 12:30 | Aula Gratton

colloquium Ettore Perozzi - The Asteroid Hazard: from Awareness to Operations
2024-06-04 11:30 - 12:30 | Aula Gratton
Over the last 30 years, monitoring the NEO (Near-Earth Object) population has undergone a change of
paradygm. Started as a research activity mainly focussed in investigating the challenging dynamical
behaviour of these small solar system bodies (needing high-accuracy orbit determination, close encounter
modelling, impact monitoring), it is now carried out routinely by dedicated centers at agency level (e.g. the
NASA and ESA Planetary Defence Offices). The NEAR rendezvous with Eros (February 2000) inaugurated the
in-situ exploration of NEOs which, to date, encompasses sample return missions and the successful
Dart/LICIAcube deflection experiment. Infrared orbiting obervatories are planned for further fostering the
NEO discovery rate. Finally, the asteroid hazard has attracted the growing concern of governmental
intitutions, which have established their own programmes and roles, reaching up to the United Nations
(UNOOSA) for global coordination. The transition to a ground- and space-based operational system is
therefore nearing. Within this framework, the (sometimes difficult) interaction between the many souls of
Planetary Defence – science, technology, civil protection, commercial exploitation – is discussed in an
historical perspective.

colloquium - Orsola De Marco
2024-06-19 11:30 - 12:30 | Aula Gratton
