Highlights of the Italy-SSERVI partnership
Abstract
The Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) is a NASA research entity with scientific focus on celestial bodies of the Solar System that can be considered as intermediate steps in the roadmap for human exploration, namely the Moon, Near Earth Asteroids, the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos and their surrounding environments. The SSERVI central office is at NASA Ames Research Center and, as virtual institute, SSERVI funds investigators at a broad range of domestic institutions, bringing them together via virtual technology, along with international partners, that can be involved at different levels. In this frame, the "SSERVI Italian node" was established in September 2014, when the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) of the Italian Republic became an Affiliate partner, with the main research topic on retroreflectors for planetary exploration. The Italian partnership in SSERVI's international program evolved to the Associate level, when the NASA and Italian Space Agency (ASI) signed a dedicated Implementing Arrangement, during the Workshop held on 14th June 2017, at the Italian Embassy in Washington DC. Since then, ASI has taken the role of Italian Principal Investigator and coordinator of the national scientific community involved in Exploration scientific activities, with particular reference to the above mentioned target in the Solar System. The Associate Partnership has been based on the "Italian Proposal for the participation to the NASA SSERVI International Partners Program -Associate membership Application", issued by ASI in June 2016 and reviewed and accepted by NASA in the following months. The Proposal summarize the main research areas where the Italian scientific community, mainly composed by research institutes like INFN and Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) and national Universities, is active. This paper describes the premises and perspectives of the Italian partnership in the SSERVI International Program, based on common research interest, in order to promote joint scientific activities, in preparation of the collective challenge to bring humans to Lunar and Martian surfaces.
- Publication:
-
42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- July 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018cosp...42E2687P