Small bodies, great science: Rosetta and Philae

At: 14.30
Venue: Room A207 - Scientific and Technological Pole Fabio Ferrari –  Povo 1

• Prof. Enrico Flamini - ASI (Italian Space Agency), Rome

Abstract:
Comets and Asteroids represent a small portion of the overall mass of the Solar System and for many years have been considered a target of interest only for dynamical studies.  With the evidence of the crucial role of impacts in the formation of planets and the evolution of the cosmological theories starting from the ’70,  the importance of the study of the so called small bodies became more and more  a key aspect for understanding the formation basic mechanisms as well as for the calibration of the theories. Comets may have played an essential role also in the presence of water on Earth and as carriers of the elemental bricks of life. Rosetta and Philae is one of the more recent and most successful mission devoted to the study of the comets, fast evolving bodies and at the same time remnants and testimony of the earliest phases of the solar system formation, with on board an essential contribution of Italian science.