Abstract
The VIRTIS (Visual IR Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) experiment has been one of the most successful experiments built in Europe for Planetary Exploration. VIRTIS, developed in cooperation among Italy, France and Germany, has been already selected as a key experiment for 3 planetary missions: the ESA-Rosetta and Venus Express and NASA-Dawn. VIRTIS on board Rosetta and Venus Express are already producing high quality data: as far as Rosetta is concerned, the Earth-Moon system has been successfully observed during the Earth Swing-By manouver (March 2005) and furthermore, VIRTIS will collect data when Rosetta flies by Mars in February 2007 at a distance of about 200 kilometres from the planet. Data from the Rosetta mission will result in a comparison – using the same combination of sophisticated experiments – of targets that are poorly differentiated and are representative of the composition of different environment of the primordial solar system. Comets and asteroids, in fact, are in close relationship with the planetesimals, which formed from the solar nebula 4.6 billion years ago. The Rosetta mission payload is designed to obtain this information combining in situ analysis of comet material, obtained by the small lander Philae, and by a long lasting and detailed remote sensing of the comet, obtained by instrument on board the orbiting Spacecraft. The combination of remote sensing and in situ measurements will increase the scientific return of the mission. In fact, the “in situ” measurements will provide “ground-truth” for the remote sensing information, and, in turn, the locally collected data will be interpreted in the appropriate context provided by the remote sensing investigation. VIRTIS is part of the scientific payload of the Rosetta Orbiter and will detect and characterise the evolution of specific signatures – such as the typical spectral bands of minerals and molecules – arising from surface components and from materials dispersed in the coma. The identification of spectral features is a primary goal of the Rosetta mission as it will allow identification of the nature of the main constituent of the comets. Moreover, the surface thermal evolution during comet approach to sun will be also studied.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
A'Hearn, M. F., Belton, M. J. S., Delamere, W. A., Kissel, J., Klaasen, K. P., McFadden, L. A., et al.: 2005, Science 310, 258.
A'Hearn, M. F., Millis, R. L., Schleicher, D. G., Osip D. J., and Birch, P. V.: 1995, Icarus 118, 223.
Ammannito, E., Filacchione, G., Coradini, A., Capaccioni, F., Piccioni, G., De Sanctis, M. C., et al.: Rev. Scientific Instrum. 77, 093109-1,10.
Barucci, M. A., Fulchignoni, M., Fornasier, S., Dotto, E., Vernazza, P., Birlan, M., et al.: 2005, A&A 430, 313.
Beliaev, N. A., Kresak, L., and Pittich, E. M.: 1986, Catalogue of Short-Period Comets. Bratislava: Slovak Academy of Sciences, Astronomical Institute.
Bockelee-Morvan, D., and Crovisier, J. (eds.): 1992, Proceedings of the 30th Liege International Astr. Collaboration, p. 65.
Brooke, T. Y., Tokunaga, A. T., Weaver, H. A., Crovisier, J., Bockelee-Morvan, D., and Crisp, D.: 1996, Nature 383, 606.
Brown, R. H., Baines, K. H., Bellucci, G., Bibring, J. P., Buratti, B. J., Capaccioni, F., et al.: 2004, Space Sci. Rev. 115, 111.
Capria, M. T., Coradini, A., and de Sanctis, M. C.: 2003, Adv. Space Res. 31, 2543.
Carusi, A., Kresak, L., Perozzi, E., and Valsecchi, G. B.: 1985, Long-Term Evolution of Short Period Comets. Bristol: England and Accord, MA, Adam Hilger, Ltd.
Choi, Y., Cohen, M., Merk, R., and Prialnik, D.: 2002, Icarus 160, 300.
Clark R. N.: 1981, J. Geophys. Res. 86-B4, 3087.
Combes, M., Crovisier, J., Encrenaz, T., Moroz, V. I., and Bibring, J.-P.: 1988, Icarus 76, 404.
Cochran, A. L., Barker, E. S., Ramseyer, T. F., and Storrs, A. D.: 1992, Icarus 98, 151.
Coradini, A., Capaccioni, F., Capria, M. T., De Sanctis, M. C., Espinasse, S., Orosei, R., et al.: 1997a, Icarus 129, 317.
Coradini, A., Capaccioni, F., Capria, M. T., De Sanctis, M. C., Espinasse, S., Orosei, R., et al.: 1997b, Icarus 129, 337.
Coradini, A., Capaccioni, F., Drossart P., Semery A., Arnold G., Schade U., et al., Planet. Space Sci. 46, 1291.
Coradini, A., Capaccioni, F., Filacchione, G., Magni, G., Ammannito, E., Capria, M. T., et al.: 2004, L. Colangeli et al. (eds.), The New ROSETTA Targets, p. 223, Kluwer AcademicPublishers.
Crovisier, J., Brooke, T. Y., Hanner, M. S., Keller, H. U., Lamy, P. L., Altieri, B., et al.: 1996, Astron. Astrophys. 315, 385.
Crovisier, J., Leech, K., Bockelee-Morvan, D., Brooke, T. Y., Hanner, M. S., Altieri, B., et al.: 1997, Science 275, 1904.
De Sanctis, M. C., Capria, M. T., and Coradini, A.: 2005, Astron. Astrophys. 444, 605.
Festou, M. C., Lecacheux, J., Kohl, J. L., Encrenaz, T., and Baudrand, J.: 1986, Astron. Astrophys. 169, 336.
Ammannito, E., Filacchione, G., Coradini, A., Capaccioni, F., Piccioni, G., De Sanctis, M. C., et al.: 2006, Rev. Scientific Instrum. 77, 103106-1,09.
Filacchione, G.: 2006, Calibrazioni a Terra e Prestazioni in Volo di Spettrometri ad Immagine nel Visibile e nel Vicino Infrarosso Per l'esplorazione Planetaria. PhD Dissertation, Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II.
Jones, T. D., Lebofsky, L. A., Lewis, J. S., and Marley, M. S.: 1990, Icarus 88, 172.
Haruyama, J., Yamamoto, T., Mizutani, H., and Greenberg, J. M.: 1992, J. Geophys. Res. 98(E8), 15,079.
Kamoun, P., Campbell, D., Pettengill, G., and Shapiro, I.: 1998, Planet. Space Sci. 47, 23.
Keller, H. U., Kramm, R., and Thomas, N.: 1988, Nature 331, 227.
Kiselev, N. N., and Velichko, F. P.: 1998, Icarus 133, 286.
Kidger, M. R.: 2004, A&A 420, 389.
Kidger, M. R.: 2003, A&A 408, 767.
Mueller, B.: 1992, in Harris A. W., and Bowell E. (eds.), CCD-Photometry of Comets at Large Heliocentric Distancesin Asteroids, Comets and Meteors 1991, p. 425.
Mumma, M. J., Weaver H. A., and Larson, H. P.: 1987, Astron. Astrophys. 187, 419.
Mumma, M. J., Di Santi, M. A., Russo, N. D., Fomenkova, M., Magee-Sauer, K., Kaminski, C. D., et al.: 1996, Science 272, 1310.
Oberst, J., Giese, B., Howington-Kraus, E., Kirk, R., Soderblom, L., Buratti, B., et al.: 2004, Icarus 167, 70.
Osip, D., Schleicher, D. G., and Millis, R. L.: 1992, Icarus 98, 115.
Prialnik, D., Benkhoff, J., and Podolak, M.: 2004, in Festou, M. C., Keller, H. U., and Weaver, H. A. (eds.), Comets II. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 359.
Reininger, F. M., Coradini, A., Capaccioni, F., Capria, M. T., Cerroni, P., de Sanctis, M. C., et al.: 1996, in Descour, M. R., Mooney, J. M. (eds.), Proceedings of the SPIE, Vol. 2819, p. 66, Imaging Spectrometry II.
Rickman, H.: 1990, in Huebner, W. F. (ed.), Comet Formation and Evolution. In Physics and Chemistry of Comets. Springer Verlag, p. 245.
Schulz, R., Stüwe, J. A., and Boehnhardt, H.: 2004, Astron. Astrophys. 422, L19.
Sunshine, J. M., A'Hearn, M. F., Groussin, O., Li, J.-Y., Belton, M. J. S., Delamere, W. A., et al.: 2006, Science 311, 1453.
Tancredi, G., Fernndez, J. A., Rickman, H., and Licandro, J.: 2000, Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. 146, 73.
Vernazza, P., Mothé-Diniz, T., Barucci, M. A., Birlan, M, Carvano, J. M. Strazzulla, G., et al.: 2005, Astron. Astrophys. 436, 1113.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Coradini, A., Capaccioni, F., Drossart, P. et al. Virtis: An Imaging Spectrometer for the Rosetta Mission. Space Sci Rev 128, 529–559 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-006-9127-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-006-9127-5