Twenty years ago the Rosetta mission was launched towards comet 67P/Churymov-Gerasimenko, affectionately called Chury by all, with the important objective of closely studying the cometary nucleus and environment to understand its composition, morphology and evolution relative to its distance from the Sun. It was an extraordinary, ambitious and successful European Space Agency space program that inspired subsequent projects for the exploration of the Solar System.
From 17 to 19 June, at the INAF – Capodimonte Astronomical Observatory, the Italian scientific community gathers under the beautiful sky of Naples to celebrate this Italian success. The workshop, Rosetta and the comet: Italy’s contribution 20 years after the launch of the ESA mission, is sponsored by the Italian Space Agency and the Municipality of Naples and sees the participation of the protagonists of science and technology put in place by Italy for the Rosetta mission. «A mission that marked the history of cometary exploration and which was the seed that made a flourishing tradition of participation in planetological space missions germinate in Naples», comments the director of the Capodimonte Observatory Pietro Schipani.
The scientific and technological project was born from the brilliant and far-sighted vision of some Italian astronomers who, after the successes of the Giotto probe which in 1986 observed and photographed the nucleus of Halley’s comet, have given great impetus to making this new space adventure a scientific and technological reality of ESA. Italy also contributed three instruments on board: the Neapolitan Giada, for which they were responsible before Ezio Bossoletti of Parthenope University, now responsible for the Executive Master in Space Economy of the Luiss Business School, then Luigi Colangeli of the National Institute of Astrophysics of Naples, since 2010 head of the ESA scientific program coordination office, and subsequently Alessandra Rotundifull professor of Parthenope University, the Roman Virtis, developed by the late Angioletta Coradini and then under the responsibility of Fabrizio Capaccioniboth of the National Institute of Astrophysics and the Wac large field of view camera in Padua for the Osiris instrument, developed under the responsibility of Cesare Barbieri of the University of Padua. Furthermore, on Philae, the lander which after some daring bounces landed on the surface of the comet, the Milanese sampling system SD2 was installed, for which it was responsible. Amalia Ercoli Finzi of the Polytechnic of Milan.
The national managers of the development of the mission and the scientific instruments will participate, created by the National Institute of Astrophysics, the Universities of Padua and Naples Parthenope, the Polytechnic of Milan, Leonardo spa (formerly Officine Galileo) and the ASI, who will present the main technological challenges overcome and the scientific results obtained by Rosetta. The workshop aims to underline the Italian contribution offered to the study of comets and more generally of the solar system and to give a signal to the younger generations of researchers that this part of research can open up significant scientific and technological perspectives. Just as the Rosetta Stone allowed French archaeologist Champollion to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics, the European mission allowed astronomers to penetrate the scientific mysteries of these extraordinary fragments of sky.
photo Rosetta_ESA (press release attached)
