The Japanese mission Hayabusa2 aims at studying and returning samples of the C-type asteroid "Ryugu", a first in the exploration of the Solar System. These asteroids are considered to have preserved among the most primordial materials in the solar system, and to possibly be the parent bodies of carbonaceous chondrites, primitive meteorites containing a significant fraction of organic matter (up to a few percent).
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OMEGA is the spectro-imaging instrument of the ESA Mars-Express mission, inserted on the martian orbit the 25th of December 2003. The instrument should observe most of the totality of the martian surface from a polar orbit.

COROT (COnvection and ROtation stellar and planetary TRansits) is a mission mainly led by CNES aiming at seismic observations of stars and the search for exoplanets. It was launched at the end of 2006 from Baikonur on a low polar Earth orbit for an initial duration of 3 years. It has finally been operated until the end of 2013 and scientific exploitation continues.


PTAL is a H2020 project (2016-2021) consisting of preparing the analysis of in situ space missions (such as Rovers Perseverance, Curiosity, ExoMars) which have near-infrared, Raman, X-ray diffraction and LIBS spectroscopic instruments. The project consisted in observing several analogous samples of planetary surfaces with space or laboratory instruments in order to make a spectral database. This work was done in collaboration with the University of Oslo and the University of Valladolid. The data is accessible on the site https://ptal.eu/ and the associated publications on https://ptal.eu/publications
Contact : François Poulet
Development of ultra-compact near-IR hyperspectral imagers for the exploration of the Solar System using acousto-optical filtering technique.

The mission goal was originally set for a rendezvous with comet 46 P/Wirtanen. After postponement of the original launch a new target was set: comet 67 P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

The objective of the Japanese mission Hayabusa-2 was to study and return a sample of a Class C asteroid, "Ryugu". These asteroids are the parent bodies of carbonaceous chondrites, primitive meteorites containing a large fraction of organic matter (up to a few percent). Their study allows us to better understand the planetary formation processes and more generally to have access to the first millions of years of the Solar System, or even before with the possible presence of pre-solar grains. Their composition, rich in organic matter, is also particularly interesting to study in order to better constrain the scenarios of formation and evolution of organic matter in the Solar System.

The IAS supplied the RMI micro-camera for the ChemCam instrument to provide the context of the LASER shots of the LIBS instrument.
Contact : John Carter