Elisabetta Dotto  INAF/OAR,

 Near Earth Asteroids: hazard and astrobiology – 23 Gennaio 2019, ore 11:00 Aula IB09

Abstract

Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are among the most primitive bodies of the Solar System, responsible of a continuous flux of impactors with our planet. They are supposed to have played a key role in triggering the life on the Earth, as well as to have dramatically altered its course, and still pose a potential hazard to human beings.  On the basis of these considerations the NEO primitive population is considered as an important target for both ground based and space investigation. At the moment two space missions are devoted to a sample return from a primitive NEOs: the JAXA mission Hayabusa-2 and the NASA mission OSIRIS-REx. The European Commission financed the NEOShield-2 project, in the framework of the program Horizon 2020, to acquire in depth information of physical properties of  NEOs, in order to design mitigation missions  and  assess the consequences of an impact on Earth.    A review of the most recent results in the field as well as the perspective of the presently ongoing space missions will be presented and discussed.

 Area Tor Vergata – IAPS Via Fosso Del Cavaliere, 100