INAF - Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica

The Istituto di Astrofisicae Planetologia Spaziali (IAPS), one of the INAF institutes, will lead the Italian participation in UPWARDS. INAF is the PI institution of several space experiments and it have experience hosting and managing numerous projects funded by the EC FP7, ESA and the Italian Space Agency. The expertise of the IAPS team includes radiative transfer in planetary atmosphere and surfaces and application of hyper spectral visible and infrared spectro imagers

IAPS has long experience in development of space instruments for planetary exploration (VIRTIS/Rosetta, VIR/Dawn, VIMS/Cassini). The group involved has led the PI instrument PFS/MEx and PFS/VEx and built or delivered space hardware as Co-I’s (OMEGA/MEx visual channel). It is also involved in the NOMAD/ExoMars and ACS/ExoMars experiments, as well as in the JUNO and JUICE missions. The expertise encompasses observations, such as remote sensing of the characteristics of the atmospheres, as well as atmospheric modelling, and development and implementation of up-to-date radiative transfer codes, including limb geometry and multiple scattering.

Previous related projects: http://www.iaps.inaf.it/attivita/pubblicazioni/

CROSSDRIVE FP7 project (2014-2016). This project is focused on the realization of innovative tools and techniques for the visualization and sharing of Mars data to strength collaborative science data analysis and real-time operations. A specific focus is given to the preparation of the ExoMars 2016 and 2018 missions. Objectives of the proposal are: (1) Mobilize the best expertise in the field of Mars science data collection and analysis to study and propose synergic combinations and benchmarking of selected data sets ; (2) Deploy a core team expert of 3D visualization, computing and virtual reality collaborative systems to prepare an innovative framework for data analysis and sharing ; (3) Test and exercise the proposed systems in view of the ExoMars rover and orbiter missions by using actual data (MEx, MRO, MER and MSL).
PFS-OMEGA/Mars Express. Mars Express is ESA's first mission to Mars, was launched in 2003 and it is still operational. INAF has designed the PFS instrument and the visible channel of OMEGA. INAF is also responsible for the data pipeline and archiving of the PFS data.

PFS onboard Mars Express. Copyright ESA
NOMAD/ExoMars TGO 2016. NOMAD is a 3-channel spectrometer developed by an international team that was selected from many proposals for the TGO that will launch in January 2016. The aim of NOMAD is to better characterize the atmosphere of Mars - measuring vertical profiles of various species at different longitudes, latitudes and seasons; mapping possible sources and sinks of rarer gaseous species - for example methane; examining aerosols and their fluctuations over a Martian year.