NASA selects mission VERITAS to study ‘Lost Habitable’ World of Venus


02/06/2021

The space mission VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, INSAR, Topography and Spectroscopy), to which Sapienza participates with a fundamental contribution, was the winner in the selection of Nasa planetary missions. This was announced by Nasa on June 2 as part of the selection of the next $500 million Discovery-class missions.

VERITAS will be launched between 2026 and 2028 and will host on board a very sophisticated instrumentation funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to which contributed the research group led by Luciano Iess, composed of young researchers from Sapienza University.

In the VERITAS scientific team, the Italian group, coordinated by Luciano Iess (Co-Lead of the gravity experiment), is composed of PhD students and young researchers from the Sapienza Aerospace Research Center (CRAS), the Department of Aerospace Mechanical Engineering (DIMA) and the Department of Information, Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering (DIET). 

The researchers of CRAS-DIMA (Gael Cascioli, Fabrizio De Marchi, Paolo Racioppa), have conducted, through numerical simulations, the definition of the gravity experiment, dedicated to the determination of the internal structure of the planet.

DIET researchers (Roberto Seu and Marco Mastrogiuseppe, Co-Lead of the VISAR radar) have contributed to the development of data processing techniques of the synthetic aperture radar, with the aim of detecting the presence of recent surface geological processes. Gaetano di Achille, of the National Institute of Astrophysics, completes the Italian participation with expertise on the geological structure of the planet.

"The success of VERITAS - comments Gael Cascioli, PhD student of the 34th cycle of the Doctorate Course in Aeronautical and Space Engineering - has also passed through the trust that has been placed in the young researchers who, like me, have brought enthusiasm, competence and energy to the international scientific team".

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Prof. Luciano Iess is a member of the Teaching Board of the Doctoral Program in Aeronautical and Space Engineering at Sapienza University.

The PhD student Gael Cascioli attends the 34th cycle of the PhD Program in Aeronautical and Space Engineering of Sapienza University.

The PhD student Paolo Racioppa attends the 35th cycle of the PhD program in Aeronautical and Space Engineering of Sapienza University.
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Info
Mauro Valorani
Coordinator of the PhD Program in Aeronautical and Space Engineering of Sapienza University of Rome
mauro.valorani@uniroma1.it
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Sapienza press release about the VERITAS selection:
https://www.uniroma1.it/it/notizia/la-nasa-sceglie-veritas-la-sapienza-su-venere

News on NASA website:
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-2-missions-to-study-lost-habitable-world-of-venus

News picked up by some agencies:
https://www.askanews.it/cronaca/2021/06/04/la-sapienza-su-venere-con-la-missione-veritas-della-nasa-pn_20210604_00066/

https://www.adnkronos.com/spazio-anche-la-sapienza-vola-verso-venere_1yMVw3KBivgv2Z92MAkrij


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