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Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale
IAS
Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale

Bepi Colombo approaching Mercury (artist's view). Credits ESA/ATG medialab, NASA/JPL

The Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS) is a laboratory of the CNRS and the University of Paris-Saclay, in addition to having the status of Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers. It comprises 145 scientists, engineers, technicians, administrators and students.

The main research themes are

  • solar physics
  • the solar system and extrasolar planets
  • astrochemistry and the study of extraterrestrial matter
  • astrophysics of interstellar matter
  • galaxies and cosmology

The Institute has a strong technical component in the field of space instrumentation and a vast R&D programme. It is a major partner of national (CNES) and international (ESA, NASA, JAXA) space agencies and works with numerous industrial partners (Alcatel, Air Liquide, Thalès, etc.). The Space Data and Operations Centre, IDOC, manages the operations of several missions (SOHO, Mars Express, ...), data processing and delivery of high level products.

The laboratory has contributed significantly to the development of instruments on board ESA missions: solar (SOHO), planetary (Mars-Express, Cassini-Huygens, Rosetta), stellar (COROT). The latter has pioneered the study of the internal structure of stars and the search for extrasolar planets. The Planck cosmological mission (ESA) was one of the laboratory's major projects, for which it was the principal investigator for the main instrument.

Several projects are in scientific operation, development or study: the future space telescope (JWST), the solar missions (Solar Orbiter), the study of Mercury (BepiColombo) and Mars (Mars Express, Exomars), the detection and characterisation of extrasolar planets (PLATO), the study of their atmosphere (ARIEL) and the study of the primordial universe (EUCLID).

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#170 - Last update : 04/29 2021

 

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