Royal Belgian Institute for Space AeronomyPhysics and chemistry of the atmosphere of the Earth and other planets, and of outer space.
Space mission development
Despite decades of research at BIRA-IASB, Earth’s atmosphere has not revealed all of its secrets yet. New space missions are being developed to further investigate the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere, like ESA’s:
- PICASSO CubeSat
- ALTIUS mission
Both initiated by BIRA-IASB.
Scientists’ insatiable curiosity makes us dive deeper into our solar system. After our latest flagships (ROSINA on Rosetta, SOIR on Venus Express, NOMAD on ExoMars), our engineers are working on the next generation instruments to be launched towards Venus and even Jupiter.
3I/ATLAS is an interstellar comet originating from another stellar system. New research led by the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB) shows that 3I/ATLAS does not directly expose the material from which it formed.
On 13 April 2023, the ESA spacecraft JUICE will take off on board an Ariane 5 launcher from ESA’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guyana. After an 8-year-long journey, JUICE will investigate Jupiter and its icy moons, with a special focus on Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system.
September 2 marked the two-year anniversary of PICASSO’s launch, the first CubeSat mission of BIRA-IASB.
Comets contain contain organic material older than the solar system, as is shown by data gathered by the DFMS instrument, which flew on board the Rosetta spacecraft to study comet Chury. An instrument and discovery to which BIRA-IASB scientists and engineers have contributed.
BIRA-IASB is sending an instrument to Venus. The VenSpec-H instrument will fly with the EnVision mission, which has just been selected by ESA and is planned for launch in 2031-2032.
A team of the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy is working on the characterisation of a space instrument called MAJIS, for ESA's JUICE mission to the planet Jupiter and its icy moons.
The ‘Comet Interceptor’ has been selected as ESA’s new fast-class mission in its Cosmic Vision Programme. Comprising three spacecraft, it will be the first to visit a truly pristine comet.
Prestigious journal Nature publishes two papers describing the first results of the Belgian NOMAD instrument on board ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.