ASI Agenzia Spaziale Italiana

Security in the Mediterranean: ASI on the front line

nosengo — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:44:23 +0100

The official kickoff took place in Paris on 15 January 2010 at the Hotel de la Marine in rue Royale, but the origin dates back to 2008. More precisely, to MARE/2008/13, the European Commission pilot project for "the integration of maritime surveillance in the Mediterranean Sea and its Atlantic approaches". An opportunity that was immediately taken by the EU member states with a Mediterranean coastline: France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Malta and, naturally, Italy. The new integrated maritime surveillance programme, partly financed by Brussels and, at least for now, to last for two years, was named BMM, the initials of Blue Maritime Surveillance Systems Mediterranean.

Wien hosts 53rd Copuos session

nosengo — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:42:13 +0200

The fifty-third session of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space will be held from 9-18 June 2010 at the United Nation Office at Vienna, Vienna International Center, Vienna, Austria.

The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space was set up by the General Assembly in 1959 ( resolution 1472 (XIV)) to review the scope of international cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space, to devise programmes in this field to be undertaken under United Nations auspices, to encourage continued research and the dissemination of information on outer space matters, and to study legal problems arising from the exploration of outer space.

Italy takes part to the session with a full-fledge delegation, led by the Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations, Gianni Ghisi, and by the Asi president Enrico Saggese.

The Copuos programme also includes a special event, sponsored by the Italian delegation.

On June 10, Mr Saggese will present ASI activities, followed by the Italian astronauto Maurizio Cheli who will recall his in-orbit experience.

Mars 500 has started

nosengo — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:27:53 +0200

Mars500, the first full-length simulated mission to Mars, started today in Moscow at 13:49 local time (11:49 CET), when the six-man crew entered their ‘spacecraft’ and the hatch was closed. The experiment will run until November next year.

The mood was serious and very determined in the Mars500 facility at the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow this afternoon, as the crew talked to the press and then walked into the modules that will be their home for the next 520 days. Diego Urbina and Romain Charles from Europe, Sukhrob Kamolov, Alexey Sitev, Sukhrob Kamolov and Alexandr Smoleevskiy from Russia and Wang Yue from China face a mission that is as close as possible to a real space voyage without leaving the ground. They will live and work like astronauts, eat special food and exercise in the same way as crews aboard the International Space Station.




Their mission is to ‘fly to Mars’ in 250 days, ‘land on and explore Mars’ for a month and ‘return to Earth’ in 230 days, using their imitation interplanetary spacecraft, lander and martian surface. The hatch will remain closed until November 2011 and the crew must manage using the food and equipment stored in the facility. Only electricity, water and some air will be fed into the compartments from outside.




In addition to testing many novel technologies, Mars500 is an extreme test of human endurance. Staying almost 18 months inside the metallic containers will be hard, even after being trained and briefed by astronauts and submariners.

The crew will no doubt have their ups and downs during the long mission, and these psychological changes are a key part of the experiment.

The ‘astronauts’ will normally divide their weekdays equally between work, free time and rest, with the weekends usually free. They have taken plenty of films, books, games, musical instruments and entertainment with them.

Their bodies will start to adapt to the new conditions – a closed environment with restricted space can quickly lead to poor physical condition. The crew need to exercise up to two hours a day, but they can shower only once a week.

What have I forgotten? Preparing everything from soap and clothing to food and spare camera batteries for a self-contained 18-month mission is a critical and complex task.

And finally the technology: the facility is not a spacecraft, but it uses many systems that will be found on a real Mars craft. Testing these in realistic conditions is important. The crew have been trained to repair every single bolt of their ‘craft’ and outside help will be given only in extreme situations.

Fostering the competitiveness of European SMEs through the use of satellite services

nosengo — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:40:31 +0200

Conference objectives
This conference aims to consolidate the political support for and recognition of the potential of satellite services to enhance competitiveness of SMEs who have no relation to space industry or the provision of satellite services, and of the necessity of measures and actions to facilitate SME access to these innovative tools.

This conference will:

demonstrate the usefulness of satellite information and services for SMEs from sectors other than space
create an exchange forum for European stakeholders: business representatives, policy-makers and space community
create stakeholder consensus on an agenda of priorities in facilitating the access of non-space SMEs to satellite information and services
identify a roadmap for the successful diffusion of satellite information and services for their appropriation by SMEs

Target audience

Public sector: Innovation and SME policy-makers and experts, decision-makers from all levels of governance,
etc.
Private sector: Business associations’ representatives, innovation and SME policy experts, organisations from
fields other than space interested in how SMEs can better benefit from satellite information and services, etc
Space community: Providers of space services, space policy experts, programme managers, etc.

Two papers hint at possible chemical signatures of life on Titan

nosengo — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:33:50 +0200

Two new papers based on data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft scrutinize the complex chemical activity on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. While non-biological chemistry offers one possible explanation, some scientists believe these chemical signatures bolster the argument for a primitive, exotic form of life or precursor to life on Titan's surface. According to one theory put forth by astrobiologists, the signatures fulfill two important conditions necessary for a hypothesized "methane-based life."

One key finding comes from a paper online now in the journal Icarus that shows hydrogen molecules flowing down through Titan's atmosphere and disappearing at the surface. Another paper online now in the Journal of Geophysical Research maps hydrocarbons on the Titan surface and finds a lack of acetylene.

This lack of acetylene is important because that chemical would likely be the best energy source for a methane-based life on Titan, said Chris McKay, an astrobiologist at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., who proposed a set of conditions necessary for this kind of methane-based life on Titan in 2005. One interpretation of the acetylene data is that the hydrocarbon is being consumed as food. But McKay said the flow of hydrogen is even more critical because all of their proposed mechanisms involved the consumption of hydrogen.

To date, methane-based life forms are only hypothetical. Scientists have not yet detected this form of life anywhere, though there are liquid-water-based microbes on Earth that thrive on methane or produce it as a waste product. On Titan, where temperatures are around 90 Kelvin (minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit), a methane-based organism would have to use a substance that is liquid as its medium for living processes, but not water itself. Water is frozen solid on Titan's surface and much too cold to support life as we know it.

The list of liquid candidates is very short: liquid methane and related molecules like ethane. While liquid water is widely regarded as necessary for life, there has been extensive speculation published in the scientific literature that this is not a strict requirement.

"These new results are surprising and exciting," said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at JPL. "Cassini has many more flybys of Titan that might help us sort out just what is happening at the surface."

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL.

(source: www.nasa.gov)

Investments in space and high technology

nosengo — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:26:32 +0200

This sound and original research coordinated on behalf of the ASI by Professor Giancarlo Graziola of the University of Bergamo is the most complete and up-to-date economic analysis currently available on the sector in Europe being carried out in Italy. Furthermore, a significant proposal is put forward at the end of the 322 page report: rethink the impact of all space and high-tech activities in a much wider perspective, taking account of all the spin-offs including those in sectors that are not closely linked to space but that have important and measurable benefits. In this way it is possible to answer the question underlying the research: what is the economic opportunity for a country like Italy in spending public money in high-technology sectors, particularly space?

COSMO-SkyMed trains its eyes on Etna

nosengo — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:08:32 +0200

At 22.04 on 2 April 2010 the seismic monitoring network of the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Catania (INGV-CT) started registering a seismic swarm in the middle of Etna’s north-eastern slope. The principal event occurred 2 km south of the Piano Pernicana tourist area at 20.04 and had a magnitude of 4.2 (at a depth of 1.1 km). From the morning of 3 April onwards the phenomenon progressively decreased in both the number of events and in their energy.

Between 17.51 and 18.27 on 8 April, the INGV-CT seismic network stations registered a dozen large low-frequency events in the area of Etna’s peak, following which there were no significant variations in the size of the volcanic tremor registered. Coinciding with this event, the crater at the eastern base of the SE Crater produced a plume of ash that rose to a height of about 1 km and dispersed in the atmosphere in a north-easterly direction, causing an ash fall in the area of Rocca Campana, between Milo and Fornazzo. This was followed by a phase of intense outgassing with no ash emission at the pit crater.

The development of these phenomena is constantly monitored by the volcanic risk group of the Department of Civil Protection (DPC), using instrument systems at its specialised centres and by processing satellite information in close collaboration with the Italian Space Agency. The ASI was alerted by the DPC and directed the COSMO-SkyMed radars towards the volcano and activated ASI’s Volcanic Risk System project (ASI-SRV) team, which uses modern satellite data analysis technology to support the volcanic risk management work of the Department of Civil Protection. Thanks to the data archive that the ASI-SRV project has been collecting on Etna for several months it was possible to respond to the request from the Department of Civil Protection in good time. In fact, by combining various radar images using a highly innovative technique developed by the IREA-CNR in Naples, it is possible to measure even very small soil deformations, in the order of centimetres, in detail.

Using these techniques, the data acquired by COSMO-SkyMed on 7 April 2010 was compared with the previously acquired data on the seismic swarm that has been occurring on Etna since the beginning of April, and in particular with data acquired on 30 March 2010. Using this comparison, the IREA-CNR, partner in the SRV project, produced the deformation map (called an interferogram) shown top left. The area affected by deformations due to seismic activity is highlighted by the white rectangle. In the image, each band of colour signifies a soil movement of about 1.5 cm moving closer or moving away from the radar position. The bands indicated by the arrows cannot be immediately attributed: the most plausible theory is that they are the effect of cloud cover over volcano that is partially disturbing the radar signal.

Finally it is important to note that the main partner in the ASI-SRV project is the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), which is delegated by law to seismically monitor and survey volcanic areas as part of the Department of Civil Protection’s nationwide system. The University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Advanced Computer Systems SpA and Galileian Plus Srl are all collaborating in the project in addition to the IREA/CNR.

Third ATV named after Edoardo Amaldi

nosengo — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:02:15 +0200

The third ATV (automated transfer vehicle) built by the European Space Agency for the International Space Station has been named after Edoardo Amaldi, the great Italian physicist and pioneer in space science. The new ATV will join Jules Verne, which completed its first mission in 2008, and Johannes Kepler, which will be launched later this year.
The ATV spacecraft are fundamental for the International Space Station’s logistics and operations. Each one can carry up to 4.5 tonnes of food, water, fuel and supplies. The first ATV, Jules Verne, remained docked with the ISS for six months in 2008, also serving as a propulsion module before being undocked and entering the atmosphere over the South Pacific.

The choice of name for the third ATV was announced on 16 March in Rome, during a press conference at the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, held in the presence of Undersecretary Giuseppe Pizza. “Italy is a key European country in our participation in the ISS partnership,” said Simonetta di Pippo, ESA’s director of human spaceflight. “By naming ATV-3 after Edoardo Amaldi we are celebrating a great Italian, but also a committed European who understood the importance of pooling resources and minds to achieve important results.”

Fermi Maps an Active Galaxy's 'Smokestack Plumes'

nosengo — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:40:38 +0200

If our eyes could see radio waves, the nearby galaxy Centaurus A (Cen A) would be one of the biggest and brightest objects in the sky, nearly 20 times the apparent size of a full moon. What we can't see when looking at the galaxy in visible light is that it lies nestled between a pair of giant radio-emitting gas plumes ejected by its supersized black hole. Each plume is nearly a million light-years long.

NASA's Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope maps gamma rays, radiation that typically packs 100 billion times the energy of radio waves. Nevertheless, and to the surprise of many astrophysicists, Cen A's plumes show up clearly in the satellite's first 10 months of data. The study appears in Thursday's edition of Science Express.

"This is something we've never seen before in gamma rays," said Teddy Cheung, a Fermi team member at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington. "Not only do we see the extended radio lobes, but their gamma-ray output is more than ten times greater than their radio output." If gamma-ray telescopes had matured before their radio counterparts, astronomers would have instead classified Cen A as a "gamma-ray galaxy."

Also known as NGC 5128, Cen A is located about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Centaurus and is one of the first celestial radio sources identified with a galaxy. "A hallmark of radio galaxies is the presence of huge, double-lobed radio-emitting structures around otherwise normal-looking elliptical galaxies," said Jürgen Knödlseder, a Fermi collaborator at the Center for the Study of Space Radiation in Toulouse, France. "Cen A is a textbook example."

Astronomers classify Cen A as an "active galaxy," a term applied to any galaxy whose central region exhibits strong emissions at many different wavelengths. "What powers these emissions is a well-fed black hole millions of times more massive than our sun," said Yasushi Fukazawa, a co-author of the study at Hiroshima University in Japan. "The black hole somehow diverts some of the matter falling toward it into two oppositely directed jets that stream away from the center."

Fueled by a black hole estimated at hundreds of millions of times the sun's mass, Cen A ejects magnetized particle jets moving near the speed of light. Over the course of tens of millions of years, these jets puffed out two giant bubbles filled with magnetic fields and energetic particles -- the radio lobes we now see. The radio waves arise as high-speed electrons spiral through the lobes' tangled magnetic fields.

But where do gamma rays -- the highest-energy form of light -- come from?

The entire universe is filled with low-energy radiation -- radio photons from the all-pervasive cosmic microwave background, as well as infrared and visible light from stars and galaxies. The presence of this radiation is the key to understanding Cen A's gamma rays.

"When one of these photons collides with a super-fast particle in the radio lobes, the photon receives such an energy boost, it becomes a gamma ray," explained co-author Lukasz Stawarz at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in Sagamihara, Japan.

Although it sounds more like billiards than astrophysics, this process, called inverse Compton scattering, is a common way of making cosmic gamma rays. For Cen A, an especially important aspect is the case where photons from the cosmic microwave background ricochet off of the highest-energy particles in the radio lobes.

In dozens of active galaxies, this process has been shown to produce X-rays. But the Cen A study marks the first case where astronomers have solid evidence that microwave photons can be kicked up to gamma-ray energies.

Fermi cataloged hundreds of blazars and other types of active galaxies in its first year. Before its mission ends, that number may reach several thousand. But because Cen A is so close, so large and so vigorous, it may be the only active galaxy Fermi will view this way.

With Centaurus A, Fermi hit the jackpot.

NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the U.S. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

(source: www.nasa.gov)

Third AGILE Announcement of Opportunity

nosengo — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:09:13 +0200

The Italian Space Agency (ASI) announces the release of the third Announcement of Opportunity (AO3) for the Guest Observer Program of the AGILE mission.

ASI is soliciting proposals from the world-wide astronomy community to apply for obtaining data rights on gamma-ray sources detected by the AGILE GRID instrument (Energy > 100 MeV) during Cycle-3, from 1 December
2009 to 30 November 2010.

Due date for Proposals: 30 April 2010, 18:00 CET.

On-line documentation and submission tools are available from the AGILE Web pages at the ASI Science Data Center:

AGILE Data Center home page: http://agile.asdc.asi.it

AGILE AO3 Web page: http://agile.asdc.asi.it/ao3.html

FERMI investigates the origin of extragalactic gamma rays

stagista — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:19:39 +0100

The FERMI satellite has made another new important finding. Data collected during the first year of observations made by the Large Area Telescope (LAT), FERMI’s "super eye", have revealed that less than a third of extragalactic gamma emissions come from what astronomers had until now considered to be the number one suspects: jets coming from the black holes of active galaxies.

After discovering the "corkscrew" magnetic fields of galaxy 3C27, the NASA probe, which was designed and built with a significant Italian contribution and is dedicated to studying high energies, is providing important data on gamma ray sources outside the Milky Way.

ROSA: the adventure continues

stagista — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:28:41 +0100

The second ROSA instrument has also started its adventure following the launch of the first on board the Indian Oceansat-2 satellite on 23 September 2009. The ASI officially delivered the instrument to the Space Agency of Argentina (CONAE) in mid February: the photo on the left shows the ASI, TASI and CONAE personnel after the integration tests standing behind the instrument which is in the foreground covered by an electromagnetic shield. This small Italian made "jewel" (the whole receiver weighs just sixteen kilograms) was developed by the ASI and built by Laben (now Thales Alenia Space). The instrument will now be installed on board Aquarius/SAC-D, the multi-sensor mission that CONAE is organising with NASA that is planned to be launched by the end of the year.

The earthquake in Chile and the polar axis: analysis from our centre in Matera

stagista — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:57:26 +0100

As with any event that produces a movement of the Earth’s mass, the recent, extremely violent earthquake in Chile also caused a shift in the Earth’s axis of inertia with respect to its rotation axis. However, it should be pointed out that much larger movements occur continually, above all as the result of atmospheric and oceanic circulation: the difference is that a seismic event is of a "transient" nature, whereas atmospheric and oceanic circulations have much longer timescales.

Using data from the International Laser Ranging Service, the global system which uses lasers to measure, with millimetre resolution, the distance between a network of stations on Earth and reflectors on satellites, the ASI Space Geodesy Centre in Matera (which has been the Official Primary Combination Centre since 2004) calculated the residual motion of the pole in comparison with values from immediately before the earthquake. Preliminary results do not show significant disparities, i.e. greater than one millisecond of arc, equivalent to about three centimetres. Corresponding research following the 2004 Sumatra earthquake showed a very clear difference of about two milliseconds of arc, equivalent to about six centimetres. However, it is important to wait for the results from other geodesic networks, based on independent observational techniques, before drawing conclusions; estimates of atmospheric and oceanic angular momenta supplied by specialised international research centres will give precious interpretative help in separating the seismic effect from phenomena of a different nature that interact with it.

This evaluation differs from those obtained using theoretical models of the planet (such as the one produced by the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California) which can estimate the extent of a shift on the basis of geophysical and seismological data. This is the type of calculation used in meteorological forecasts, which are based on data observed before a particular date and on theoretical models of how atmospheric phenomena develop.

Info:
Giuseppe Bianco,
Centro di Geodesia Spaziale - Matera
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
+39-0835-377209 +39-320-8579369
e.mail: giuseppe.bianco@asi.it

The AGILE satellite detects “super-energetic” lightning that may affect aircraft navigation

nosengo — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:47:26 +0100

The AGILE space mission is detecting a special type of lightning that emit intense gamma-ray radiation of large intensity. This lightning phenomenon is observed to be concentrated especially in the equatorial region. AGILE is a space mission of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) with participation of the Italian Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) and the Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN). It is focused on the study of the Universe at gamma-ray energies, but it can also detect phenomena originating in the Earth atmosphere.

AGILE is indeed detecting Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes (TGFs) associated with tropical thunderstorms. They typically last a few thousandths of a second, and they produce a very intense pulse of gamma-rays. AGILE joins other satellites in orbit in detecting TGFs, but its unique capability of detecting photons of the highest energies within the shortest time make AGILE an ideal istrument to study these impulsive phenomena. AGILE determined that the maximal photon energy involved in TGFs is larger than many tens of Megaelectronvolts, i.e., at least hundreds of times larger than what measured for normal lightning. Particles are accelerated by the intense TGF electric fields and copiously produce gamma-rays. The AGILE Team recently published a paper on this subject in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

The detection of this extreme atmospheric phenomenon led the AGILE Team to pay the highest attention to TGFs, and to evaluate together with the Italian Aviation Authority (ENAC) the possible effect on aircraft traveling near the TGF producing storms. The hypothesis of a possible effect on aircraft has been formulated in a paper recently submitted by the AGILE Team to a scientific journal. The special equatorial orbit of the satellite and its detection capability provide a unique opportunity for AGILE to gather information of interest to aircraft flying in that region.

“This super-lightning phenomenon associated to TGFs is of the greatest importance”, says Marco Tavani, Principal Investigator of the AGILE Mission. “We need to focus on these remarkable and energetic atmospheric flashes. The AGILE instrument is currently the best in orbit to detect these very rapid events lasting only a few milliseconds. We can easily determine the TGF position on Earth and rapidly communicate this information to the ground”.

“The AGILE satellite demonstrates to be a very useful mission also for Earth observations”, says Paolo Giommi, Director of the ASI Science Data Center in Frascati.
“It demonstrates that special instruments and techniques originally conceived to study cosmic events in our “violent Universe” can be effectively used to observe our planet Earth and possibly to improve aircraft safety”.

ESA chooses three scientific missions for further study

nosengo — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:27:35 +0100

Dark energy, habitable planets around other stars, and the mysterious nature of our own Sun, have been chosen by ESA as candidates for two medium-class missions to be launched no earlier than 2017.

On Thursday 18 February, ESA’s Science Programme Committee (SPC) approved three missions to enter the so-called definition phase. This is the next step required before the final decision is taken as to which missions are implemented. The three proposals chosen to proceed are Euclid, PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO), and Solar Orbiter.

Euclid would address key questions relevant to fundamental physics and cosmology, namely the nature of the mysterious dark energy and dark matter. Astronomers are now convinced that these substances dominate ordinary matter. Euclid would map the distribution of galaxies to reveal the underlying ‘dark’ architecture of the Universe. Italy is responsbile for the spectroscopic channel, with Andrea Cimatti of Bologna University as PI.

The PLATO mission would address one of the most timely and long-standing questions in science, namely the frequency of planets around other stars. This would include terrestrial planets in a star’s habitable zone, so-called Earth-analogues. In addition, PLATO would probe stellar interiors by detecting the gaseous waves rippling their surfaces. Italian researchers contribute both to the PLATO Payload Consortium, that will design and build telescopes, and to the PLATO Science Consortium, which will prepare the scientific programme. The Italian coordinator is Giampaolo Piotto, from Padova University.

Solar Orbiter would take the closest look at our Sun yet possible, approaching to just 62 solar radii. It would deliver images and data that include views of the Sun’s polar regions and the solar far side when it is not visible from Earth. On this mission, Italy is responsible for one of the scientific instruments, the coronografo METIS/COR coronographer, whose Principal Investigator is Ester Antonucci, from Turin Observatory and INAF.

These three missions are the finalists from 52 proposals that were either made or carried forward in 2007. They were whittled down to just six mission proposals in 2008 and sent for industrial assessment. Now that the reports from those studies are in, the missions have been pared down again. “It was a very difficult selection process. All the missions contained very strong science cases,” says Lennart Nordh, Swedish National Space Board and chair of the SPC.

And the tough decisions are not yet over. Only two missions out of three of them: Euclid, PLATO and Solar Orbiter, can be selected for the M-class launch slots. All three missions present challenges that will have to be resolved at the definition phase. A specific challenge, of which the SPC was conscious, is the ability of these missions to fit within the available budget. The final decision about which missions to implement will be taken after the definition activities are completed, which is foreseen to be in mid-2011.

(source: www.esa.int)

ROSA’s glimpse of the Earth

nosengo — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:45:19 +0100

Almost four months have passed since ROSA (Radio Occultation Sounder for Atmosphere) was switched on (25 September 2009), just 48 hours after launch. ROSA is the ASI instrument on board the Indian satellite Oceansat-2 that studies the environmental and atmospheric conditions on our planet. And now commissioning on the data sent back to Earth has started. In detail, the ROSA mission – which uses the radio occultation technique - consists primarily in taking very precise measurements of the temperature, humidity and pressure of the atmosphere from sea level to an altitude of about 100 km. Secondly, ROSA very precisely measures the density of electrons in the ionosphere up to an altitude of about 800 km. These are all measurements that are extremely important for studying the terrestrial climate, which has caused ROSA to be likened to a sort of accurate 'global thermometer'.

Italy and Kenya extend the Malindi agreement

nosengo — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:46:13 +0100

Today in Nairobi, the president of the Italian Space Agency, Enrico Saggese, in the wake of the visit to Kenya by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Franco Frattini, met Ambassador Nancy Kirui, the Kenyan Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, the counterpart in managing the "Luigi Broglio" Space Centre at Malindi. President Saggese was accompanied by Professor Ezio Bussoletti, member the ASI’s board, and by Gabriella Arrigo, in charge of relations with countries outside Europe in ASI's Strategy Unit.

Saggese and Kirui, after congratulating each other on the ongoing bilateral cooperation, in particular on the inauguration of a regional centre for Earth observation, agreed to extend the current intergovernmental agreement regarding the centre until 31 December 2010. This is in anticipation of the new definitive new intergovernmental agreement; the draft of which has been agreed by MAE, the Ministry of Defence and the ASI and is now being examined by the Kenyan government.

The "Luigi Broglio" base at Malindi was also the subject of political meetings between Minister Frattini and his Kenyan equivalent Moses Wetang’ula, accompanied by the Minister for Defence, Yussuf Haji. At the end of the meetings, the two Ministers for Foreign Affairs signed several joint decisions in order to formalise the start of negotiations on the new intergovernmental agreement.

The work at Malindi was already underway in the sixties thanks to the decisive drive of Prof. Luigi Broglio, and was then renewed in 1995 by an agreement still effective today. The ASI has managed the centre since 2003, replacing the Sapienza University of Rome. Notable current activities include remote sensing, orbital acquisition, research and training. New activities include the possibility to start launches again and for the Malindi base to take part in the international circuit for environmental and climate change studies.

Satellite images of Haiti

nosengo — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:11:30 +0100

In the ILU map, red elements show areas where there is a big difference in the backscattering between the pre and the post event images and therefore these areas could have been affected by the earthquake.

ILU modified (Interferometric Land use modified)

Red: Absolute value of the difference between the pre and post SAR detetcted amplitude (26.04.2009 - 15.04.2009)

Green: Mean value of the difference between the pre and post SAR detetcted amplitude (26.04.2009 - 15.04.2009)

Blue: Interferometric coherence (26.04.2009 - 15.04.2009)

'Space citadel' created in Matera

nosengo — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:32:20 +0100

The Italian Space Agency and the region of Basilicata have signed an agreement that makes investments of up to twenty-four million euros available for developing the 'Giuseppe Colombo' Space Geodesy Centre. The activities at the Matera site will be extended and integrated by the creation of a centre of excellence for interpreting satellite Earth observation data (CIDOT), a remote sensing system for territorial monitoring, a permanent centre for advanced training, and a science and space park.

In this manner a 'space citadel' will be created in Matera, where research, training, public information, business and experimentation can coexist and combine, along with the involvement of the University of Basilicata, and support the development of manufacturing and businesses in technological development and environmental monitoring.

"The Space Geodesy Centre represents a great legacy for Basilicata to enlarge and develop" explains Vito de Filippo, the president of the region of Basilicata. "Putting the agreements signed today into effect will undoubtedly have positive spin-offs since they will support the development of manufacturing and a network of companies in technological development and territorial monitoring. The region will also have the job of initiating advanced training courses and technological transfer which will also involve the University of Basilicata. "

The CIDOT calculation centre (for interpreting Earth observation data) will work with the Ministry of Defence, the university and industry, to interpret Earth observation data at high and very high resolution in civil and military applications, in particular using data from the COSMO-SkyMed mission. The science and space park aims to become the centre of reference in the Mediterranean for popularising science and for astronomical and astrophysical studies, not only for the academic world but also for industry and institutions. Finally, the remote sensing system in Basilicata will be used in territorial monitoring, particularly with regard to landslides and subsidence, and also for monitoring hydrological basins.

According to Enrico Saggese, president of the ASI, "the government, via the ASI, also wanted this initiative greatly in order to facilitate the creation of new business initiatives in Basilicata. At their complex, CIDOT, the science park and the remote sensing system will contribute to developing scientific and technological skills of the highest standard, and the data from the COSMO-SkyMed mission will increasingly represent an important business opportunity for new industrial developments. On behalf of the ASI I would like to thank the region of Basilicata for sharing this project with us and having invested a considerable sum in it".

The investments will begin to show results in the three years following signing the agreement protocol.

"This is an important public-private investment at a site where innovation, research, business and skills combine," concluded Vincenzo Santochirico, vice-president of the region of Basilicata. "With the programme of resolutions and activities agreed today, Matera is unquestionably aiming to develop and reinforce its role as a city of culture and innovation, a position of excellence and point of reference for scientific orientation and culture, offering permanent training opportunities to young researchers and employment to qualified professionals".

All AGILE Cycle-1 Data Now Public

nosengo — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:21:38 +0100

The proprietary period for the last 9 Cycle-1 Observation Blocks (from OB 5900 to OB 6400) has expired, thus the entire Cycle-1 dataset from December 1, 2007 to Novembre 30, 2008 is now public and available from the ASDC Multimission Archive webpage http://www.asdc.asi.it/mmia/ for the AGILE Mission.

This new public delivery reflects the current best understanding and testing of calibrations, background rejection, and processing results.