The interaction between the Sun and the other planets
Bodies with an internal magnetic field
As far as the interaction of the solar wind with the other planets is concerned, a situation analogous to that of the Earth is seen for all planets with an intrinsic magnetic field. The magnetosphere of Mercury, for example, from a morphological point of view, seems to be very similar to that of the Earth. For this reason, an extremely important mission is being prepared for the study of Mercury, and in particular of its magnetosphere, Bepi Colombo (ESA/JAXA), that will comprise two satellites orbiting at different distances from the planet: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), mainly for planetary studies, that will also characterise the environment around the planet, and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), that will mainly study the magnetosphere. The Italian participation in this mission is significant: the INAF-IFSI researchers, in fact, participate as the PI institute in the international experiment SERENA (Search for Exospheric Refilling and Emitted Natural Abundances) on-board MPO, for the study of neutral and charged particles in the Mercurian environment. This experiment will consist of two neutral atom sensors (ELENA and STROFIO), and two for charged particles (PICAM and MIPA). INAF-IFSI, as PI institute, will deliver the ELENA (Emitted Low-Energy Neutral Atoms) unit and the System Control Unit, and will also deal with assembly, integration and verification. The ELENA instrument will be dedicated to measurements of the energetic component of neutral gas in the exosphere. Also for the Bepi-Colombo mission, INAF-IFSI will participate in the development of an instrument for the measurement of the distribution function of electrons, that will be on-board the MMO, and in the SIXS instrument. The IFSI community, then, has, and will be involved in an intense effort of national and international coordination, modeling, and development and design of the sensors for this mission. INAF-IFSI is also involved, within the Cosmic Vision programme, in the EJSM mission, a European orbiter for a study of the Jovian moon Ganymede.
Bodies without an internal magnetic field
In the case of planets, like Mars and Venus, that don't posses an intrinsic magnetic field, but that have an atmosphere, it's the planet's ionosphere that obstructs the flux of the solar wind, that carries with it the ever changing interplanetary magnetic field; also in this case a shock wave is formed. Italian researchers are studying the environments of Mars and Venus thanks to analysis of data collected from the ASPERA-3 and ASPERA-4 instruments aboard MARS-EXPRESS and VENUS-EXPRESS. In addition, the RAMON instrument (neutral particle analyser) has been selected for phase A for the MARCOPOLO mission of ESA's Cosmic Vision programme, directed at a Near-Earth Object (NEO).
