Solar and Planetary Systems

The team conducts research on three themes:

(1) Solid planets and satellites of the solar system

(2) Asteroids and comets

(3) Exoplanets

Using instruments aboard space missions, the team measures the composition of planetary surfaces and atmospheres.

The aim is to characterize the processes of physicochemical and climatic evolution in order to trace the history of the planets.

Particular attention is paid to water and carbon: where and in what state are they found in the Solar System today? What is their history, from primordial inputs to contemporary processes? What is Earth's place in the diversity of planets and exoplanets?

The team's recent research has focused in particular on Mars, water- and carbon-rich asteroids, the icy moons of Jupiter, Mercury and the atmospheres of exoplanets. The composition of these objects is studied using spectrometers and visible and infrared imagers.

Our approach combines observation, data analysis, numerical modeling and laboratory simulation. One of the team's distinguishing features is its direct involvement in the construction of numerous space instruments, with a constant concern to combine scientific and technological challenges. The team also works on microscopic analysis analysis of extraterrestrial samples, in close collaboration with the astrochemistry team.

Dernières news

Success! The CIVA cameras onboard the Philae lander of the Rosetta spacecraft have awoken

11 years 2 months ago

After a ten-year-long interplanetary journey, Rosetta finally approaches its final destination, the nucleus of the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, on which the Philae module will land in November. The CIVA imaging system, designed to obtain a stereoscopic panoramic view of the surface of the comet after the landing of Philae, has just been turned on successfully, after years of hibernation, at a distance of more than 600 million km from the Sun.

The Source Crater of Martian Shergottite Meteorites

11 years 4 months ago

From source to sink: Meteorites from Mars have been known since the 1970’s, but researchers in Oslo, In Lyon, and at IAS have for the first time been able to identify the source crater for shergottites, the largest group of martian meteorites. The source region on Mars was probably impacted about 3 million years ago by a medium-size body, and the meteorites ended their space journey at the Earth’s surface a few thousand years ago.

Rosetta : successful wake-up after 31 months of hibernation

11 years 5 months ago

After a 31 months hibernation phase, the ROSETTA spacecraft has woken up as scheduled on January 20th. After this critical milestone, the spacecraft will progressively get closer to the comet, then it will get into orbit (end of June) so as to map it and to select a landing site for the Philae lander, which will reach the surface of the nucleus in November. IAS has contributed to 3 experiments on board the orbiter and the lander.

A complex magmatic history for Mars

11 years 7 months ago

Mars is a volcanic world, covered nearly entirely in basaltic rocks. While the planet's geological history remains elusive for lack of in-situ samples or probes of its internal structure, its uniform surface composition was thought to result from an unremarkable magmatic history. However, this is questioned by a recent study lead by ESO and IAS, which has revealed a new rock type on Mars.

ESA missions, including SOHO and Mars Express, continue in overtime

11 years 12 months ago

Meeting in Paris on 18-19 June, ESA's Science Programme Committee (SPC) gave the go-ahead to continue funding science operations for 10 remarkably productive science missions (including SOHO and Mars Express), all of them working beyond their planned lifetimes and all of them nevertheless continuing to deliver exceptional science.

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