MPS Projects and Research Teams

Planets and Comets

Projects are listed from latest to earliest. Future, current, and past projects.

	EuroPlaNet: European Planetology Network Theory group Launched on January 1st 2005, the European Union-funded project will provide an important added value to the European Planetology Community and the science produced by the international planetary missions. During four years, EuroPlaNet will strengthen the networking of the European Planetary Sciences community by promoting the exchanges between its different partners and providing a support to the planetary exploration missions. Project description EuroPlaNet home page
	PPG: Planetary Plasmas Theory group Research in planetary plasmas studies particles and magnetic fields in the environment of the planets. This includes all physical processes between planetary atmospheres and interplanetary space. Project description
	KKISS: Small Bodies in the Solar System Theory group The research project aims at the characterization of the physical properties of small bodies in the solar system, i.e. their sizes, shapes, albedo, temperatures, colours and surface composition as well as the production of gas and dust in case the bodies show activity like comets do. Project description
	Planetary Dynamics: Planetary Dynamics Theory group The group studies the interior dynamics of planets employing large scale computer simulations. The research mainly concentrates on dynamo mechanisms, convection in the rocky mantle of the terrestrial planets, and the flow in the atmospheres of the outer planets. Project description
	Exomars: The Aurora flagship mission for finding life on Mars Planned Launch: 2018 This mission calls for the development of a Mars orbiter, a descent module and a Mars rover. The Mars orbiter will have to be capable of reaching Mars and putting itself into orbit around the planet. On board will be a Mars rover within a descent module. After their release and landing on the surface of Mars, the orbiter will transfer itself into a more suitable orbit where it will be able to operate as a data relay satellite. Initially it will act as a data relay for the ExoMars rover but its life may be extended to serve future missions. Participation: MOMA: Martian Organic Molecule Analyzer, SEIS: SEISmometer Technology Study Project description Exomars home page
	BepiColombo: Mission to Mercury Planned Launch: August 2013 The BepiColombo Mission to planet Mercury is a joint project between the European Space Agency ESA and the Japanese counterpart JAXA to be launched in 2013 and orbiting Mercury from 2018 onwards. The project named after Guiseppe (Bepi) Colombo consists of two spacecraft: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) provided by ESA and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) provided by JAXA providing for the first time two-point measurements in the vicinity of the closest planet in our solar system. Participation: BELA: BepiColombo Laser Altimeter, SERENA: Search for Exospheric Refilling and Emitted Natural Abundances Experiment, MIXS: Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer, MPPE-MSA: Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment - Mass Spectrum Analyzer Project description BepiColombo home page
	Herschel: Herschel Space Observatory Launch: May 14, 2009 Herschel, short for the "Herschel Space Observatory", is the fourth cornerstone mission in the ESA science programme. It will perform photometry and spectroscopy. It will have a radiatively cooled 3.5m diameter telescope, and a science payload complement of three instruments housed inside a superfluid helium cryostat. Herschel is designed to observe the "cool universe"; it has the potential of discovering the earliest epoch proto-galaxies, revealing cosmologically evolving AGN/starburst symbiosis, and unravelling the mechanisms governing the formation of stars and planetary systems, such as our own. Participation: HIFI: Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared Project description Herschel home page
	Chandrayaan: India's first mission to moon Launch: October 22, 2008 Chandrayaan-1 was carried by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C11) from the second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR), Sriharikota. Sriharikota is located in Andhrapardesh, the centre is 80 km north of Chennai in South India. The Chandrayaan-1 mission was aimed at high-resolution remote sensing of the Moon in visible, near Infrared, low energy X-ray and high-energy X-ray regions. Participation: SIR-2: Spectrometer InfraRed onboard India's first lunar Mission Chandrayaan Project description Chandrayaan home page
	DAWN-FC: Framing Camera Launch: Sep 27, 2007 The Framing Camera is the scientific imaging system of the Dawn Mission to the two complementary protoplanets 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta. The spacecraft will be launched in May 2006 on a Delta launcher from Cape Canaveral. Project description DAWN-FC home page
	Phoenix: A NASA Mission to the Polar Regions of Mars Launch: Aug 4, 2007 The Phoenix spacecraft was successfully launched on Aug. 4, 2007 and landed on May 25, 2008 in the Martian arctic region. It shall analyze near-surface water ice that is expected at the landing site. The Primary Mission lasts 90 sols and is followed by the Polar Climate Phase (60 sols). The mission will end late in 2008 due to lack of solar power. Participation: RAC: Robotic Arm Camera, MECA-OM: Microscopy and Electrical Conductivity Analyzer - Optical Microscope Project description Phoenix home page
	Venus-Express: Europe's mission to Venus Launch: Nov 9, 2005 Venus Express will be ESA's first mission to Earth's nearest planetary neighbour, Venus. Venus draws twice as close to our planet as Mars ever does. In terms of size and mass, Venus is Earth's twin and yet it has evolved in a radically different manner, with a surface temperature hotter than a kitchen oven and a choking mixture of noxious gases for an atmosphere. Venus Express will make unique studies of this atmosphere. Participation: ASPERA-4: Analyzer of Space Plasmas and EneRgetic Atoms onboard VenusExpress, VMC: The Venus-Express Monitoring Camera Project description Venus-Express home page
	SMART-1: Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology Launch: Sep 27, 2003 / Lunar impact: Sep 3, 2006 SMART-1 is the first of ESA's Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology. It travelled to the Moon using solar-electric propulsion and carrying a battery of miniaturised instruments. As well as testing new technology, SMART-1 did the first comprehensive inventory of key chemical elements in the lunar surface. It also investigated the theory that the Moon was formed following the violent collision of a smaller planet with Earth, four and a half thousand million years ago. Participation: SIR: Spectrometer InfraRed onboard ESA's SMART-1 Mission to the moon Project description SMART-1 home page
	SOFIA: Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy Planned Launch: 2010 SOFIA is an airborne observatory that will study the universe in the infrared spectrum. The high sensitivity provided by SOFIA and the spectral resolution obtained with the CTS (Chirp Transform Spectrometer) combine in a unique tool in order to address a wide range of topics of modern astrophysics, from questions about comets, planetary atmospheres and the interstellar medium in the galaxy to investigations related to the early Universe. Participation: GREAT-CTS: High resolution spectrometry at 14 Km altitude Project description SOFIA home page
	ROSETTA: Cometary mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Launch: March 2, 2004 Rosetta is an European Space Agency (ESA) cornerstone mission designed to rendezvous with comet "67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko" in 2014. After a long cruise phase, the satellite will rendez-vous with comet "67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko" and orbit it, while taking scientific measurements. A Surface Science Package (SSP) on the Rosetta Lander (Philae) will be landed on the comet surface to take in-situ measurements. During the cruise phase, the satellite will be given gravity assist manoeuvres once by Mars and twice by the Earth. The satellite will also take measurements in fly-bys of two asteroids. Participation: OSIRIS: Camaras, CONSERT: Radiowave Transmission Experiment (Orbiter and Lander), MIRO: Microwave Instrument, ROSINA-RTOF: Particle Instrument, Philae: Module that will land on the comet, COSAC: Evolved Gas Analyser (Lander), COSIMA: In-situ Dust Analysis System Project description ROSETTA home page
	Mars-Express: Europe's mission to Mars Launch: Jun 2, 2003 / Mission End: May 2009 Mars Express is an ESA project to Mars. It will carry a payload capable of conducting the most thorough search of the red planet yet for liquid water, which is essential for life as we know it. The mission consists of an orbiter and a lander called Beagle 2. Participation: ASPERA-3: Charged and neutral particle spectrometer, MARSIS: Subsurface Sounding Radar/Altimeter, BEAGLE-2: Microscope camera, HRSC: High/Super Resolution Stereo Imager Project description Mars-Express home page
	Mars-DFG: Mars and the terrestrial planets 2002-2008 DFG-Schwerpunktprogramm 1115: "Mars and the terrestrial planets". Participation: Simulator: Mars Climate Simulator, MAOAM: Mars Atmospheric Observation And Modelling, REGOLITH: Regolith on atmosphereless bodies Project description
	CASSINI: Mission to Saturn Launch: Oct 15, 1997 A joint endeavor of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, Cassini is sending a sophisticated robotic spacecraft to orbit the ringed planet and study the Saturnian system in detail over a four-year period. Onbord Cassini is a scientific probe called Huygens that will be released from the main spacecraft to parachute through the atmosphere to the surface of Saturn's largest and most interesting moon, Titan, which is shrouded by an opaque atmosphere. Participation: MIMI-LEMMS: Particle Instrument on the orbiter, UVIS-HDAC: UV sensor on the orbiter, DISR: Camera on the Huygens probe Project description CASSINI home page
	CLUSTER: Mission to the magnetosphere, 4 satellites Launch: Jul 16, 2000 Cluster is a project of the European Space Agency (ESA) consisting of 4 identical spacecraft investigating the dynamics of the Earth's magnetosphere, at distances between 4 and 19 Earth radii. The Institute is participating in two of the 11 experments on board. Participation: RAPID: Imaging spectrometer for energetic ions and electrons, CIS: Ion spectrometer Project description CLUSTER home page
	GALILEO: Mission to Jupiter Launch: Oct 18, 1989 Galileo is the first man-made spacecraft that is in orbit around an outer planet in our solar system. It consists of the orbiter itself and a small atmospheric probe that plunged into Jupiter in December 1995. Since then the orbiter has completed many flybys of Jupiter's major moons, reaping a variety of science discoveries. Participation: LRD: Lightning Detector on the probe, EPD: Particle Instrument on the orbiter Project description GALILEO home page
	GIOTTO: ESA cometary mission, flew to comets Halley and Grigg-Skjellerup 1986 - 1992 In 1980, a group of 19 scientists suggested to ESA that the return of comet Halley in 1986 offered a unique opportunity to investigation a comet from very close range. The mission was studied in the first half of 1980 and was approved in July 1980. The mission was named Giotto after the Italian painter, Giotto di Bondone, who depicted comet Halley as the 'Star of Bethlehem' in one of his frescoes in the Scrovegni chapel in Padua in 1304. Participation: HMC: Multicolour camera Project description GIOTTO home page