The Italian Space Agency is a government agency established in 1988 to fund, regulate and coordinate space exploration activities in Italy. The agency cooperates with numerous national and international entities who are active in aerospace research and technology.
The Aurora programme was a human spaceflight programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) established in 2001. The objective was to formulate and then to implement a European long-term plan for exploration of the Solar System using robotic spacecraft and human spaceflight to investigate bodies holding promise for traces of life beyond the Earth.
ExoMars is an astrobiology programme of the European Space Agency (ESA).
MARSIS is a low frequency, pulse-limited radar sounder and altimeter developed by the University of Rome La Sapienza and Alenia Spazio. The Italian MARSIS instrument, which is operated by the European Space Agency, is operational and orbits Mars as an instrument for the ESA's Mars Express exploration mission.
SHARAD is a subsurface sounding radar embarked on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) probe. It complements the MARSIS radar on Mars Express orbiter, providing lower penetration capabilities but much finer resolution.
Thales Alenia Space is a joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (33%).
The Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher (MAX-C), also known as Mars 2018 mission was a NASA concept for a Mars rover mission, proposed to be launched in 2018 together with the European ExoMars rover. The MAX-C rover concept was cancelled in April 2011 due to budget cuts.
The Planetary Science Decadal Survey is a serial publication of the United States National Research Council produced for NASA and other United States Government Agencies such as the National Science Foundation. The documents identify key questions facing planetary science and outlines recommendations for space and ground-based exploration ten years into the future. Missions to gather data to answer these big questions are described and prioritized, where appropriate. Similar decadal surveys cover astronomy and astrophysics, earth science, and heliophysics.
Rosalind Franklin, previously known as the ExoMars rover, is a planned robotic Mars rover, part of the international ExoMars programme led by the European Space Agency and the Russian Roscosmos State Corporation. The mission was scheduled to launch in July 2020, but was postponed to 2022. The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused an indefinite delay of the programme, as the member states of the ESA voted to suspend the joint mission with Russia; in July 2022, ESA terminated its cooperation on the project with Russia. As of May 2022, the launch of the rover is not expected to occur before 2028 due to the need for a new non-Russian landing platform.
ExoLance is a low-cost mission concept that could hitch a ride on other missions to Mars in an effort to look for evidence of subsurface life.
European Rover Challenge is an annual international Martian robots competition which has been organized since 2014 in Poland.
The Aerospace Logistics Technology Engineering Company (ALTEC) is an Italian aerospace company owned by the Italian Space Agency and Thales Alenia Space. It was founded in 2001 by Alenia Spazio and Consorzio Icarus, and is based in Turin. It will serve as the Control Centre for the two ExoMars missions to Mars.
The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is the first planned extraterrestrial space station. It will be placed in lunar orbit and is intended to serve as a solar-powered communication hub, science laboratory, and short-term habitation module for government-agency astronauts, as well as a holding area for rovers and other robots. It is a multinational collaborative project involving four of the International Space Station partner agencies: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Canadian Space Agency (CSA). It is planned to be both the first space station beyond low Earth orbit and the first space station to orbit the Moon.
The Mars Organic Molecule Analyser (MOMA) is a mass spectrometer-based instrument on board the Rosalind Franklin rover to be launched in 2028 to Mars on an astrobiology mission. It will search for organic compounds in the collected soil samples. By characterizing the molecular structures of detected organics, MOMA can provide insights into potential molecular biosignatures. MOMA will be able to detect organic molecules at concentrations as low as 10 parts-per-billion by weight (ppbw). MOMA examines solid crushed samples exclusively; it does not perform atmospheric analyses.
Mars Multispectral Imager for Subsurface Studies (MA-MISS) is a miniaturized imaging spectrometer designed to provide imaging and spectra by reflectance in the near-infrared (NIR) wavelength region and determine the mineral composition and stratigraphy. The instrument is part of the science payload on board the European Rosalind Franklin rover, tasked to search for biosignatures, and scheduled to land on Mars in spring 2023. MA-MISS is essentially inside a drill on the Rover, and will take measurements of the sub-surface directly.
Raman Laser Spectrometer (RLS) is a miniature Raman spectrometer that is part of the science payload on board the European Space Agency'sRosalind Franklin rover, tasked to search for biosignatures and biomarkers on Mars. The rover is planned to be launched in August–October 2022 and land on Mars in spring 2023.
Infrared Spectrometer for ExoMars (ISEM) is an infrared spectrometer for remote sensing that is part of the science payload on board the European Space Agency'sRosalind Franklin rover, tasked to search for biosignatures and biomarkers on Mars. The rover is planned to be launched in August–October 2022 and land on Mars in spring 2023.
WISDOM is a ground-penetrating radar that is part of the science payload on board the European Space Agency'sRosalind Franklin rover, tasked to search for biosignatures and biomarkers on Mars. The rover is planned to be launched in August–October 2022 and land on Mars in spring 2023.
The Fine-Resolution Epithermal Neutron Detector (FREND) is a neutron detector that is part of the instrument payload on board the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), launched to Mars in March 2016. This instrument is currently mapping hydrogen levels to a maximum depth of 1 m beneath the Martian surface, thus revealing shallow water ice distribution. This instrument has an improved resolution of 7.5 times over the one Russia contributed to NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter.
Anthea Comellini is an Italian aerospace engineer and reserve astronaut. Comellini completed a PhD on space rendezvous at the Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace, in France, with aerospace company Thales Alenia Space in 2021. She then worked in space navigation operations for the European Space Agency, and the following year, was hired for research and development at Thales Alenia Space. She was chosen as a reserve astronaut in the European Astronaut Corps in 2022.
