The PAMELA instrument was installed aboard the TsSKB-Progress (Russia) RESURS DK1 satellite and, on June 15th, 2006, was placed into orbit at an altitude ranging from 350 to 600 kms, through a Soyuz-class launcher.

PAMELA’s instrumental apparatus consists of a permanent magnet, a tracking system made up of 6 silicon microstrip layers, a trigger and time-of-flight measurement system made up of three double layers segmented by scintillation counters, an imaging calorimeter made up of 22 tungsten layers and 44 silicon layers, a scintillation counter system for anticoincidence, a neutron detector manufactured with 36 3HE detectors on two layers, a scintillation counter to trigger high-energy particles.

The main scientific goal of the PAMELA mission was searching for evidence of exotic matter, that is non baryonic matter which is not included in the Standard Model of elementary particles physics, and antinuclei.

Other important scientific goals were studying the dependence from energy of the half-life of cosmic rays in our galaxy and the transportation and secondary production models of cosmic radiation in the Milky Way and monitoring long-term solar activity.

After providing the PAMELA instrument to be installed on the satellite, Italy’s main contribution was data reception from the Resusr DK1 satellite, data analysis and communication and disclosure of the results.

‣ News

FRIDAY 20 DECEMBER 2024

COSMO-SkyMed carried out radar acquisitions to analyse tanker collision in the Black Sea ‣

On Sunday 15th December, bad weather conditions led to an accident involving two oil tankers, resulting in an oil spill in the Kerch Strait. Through COSMO-SkyMed satellites by Agenzia Spaziale Italiana and Ministero della Difesa, e-GEOS carried out Radar acquisitions to analyse the area affected by the possible presence of spills from tankers. In the following image, processed via the e-GEOS SEonSE application platform for maritime domain monitoring, the positions and characteristics of the identified oil spills are highlighted. Photo credit:  Black Sea. COSMO-SkyMed Image © ASI. Processed and distributed by e-GEOS                 Image details: COSMO-SkyMed ORDER ID =  3186470 e-GEOS ORDER NUMBER = 24F29157-15 AREA NAME = Feasibility_MN_CSK Product Number 1 ACQUISITION MODE =  STR_HIMAGE ORBIT PASS =  ASCENDING LOOKING MODE =  RIGHT PROCESSING LEVEL =  DGM_B ACQUISITION START TIME =  2024-12-19 02:57:22.528192 ACQUISITION STOP TIME =  2024-12-19 02:57:29.233727 SATELLITE =  SAR1 PRODUCT_FILE_NAME = CSKS1_DGM_B_HI_0A_VV_RA_FF_20241219025723_20241219025729.h5

WEDNESDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2024

Memorandum of Understanding signed between ASI and the Commissioner General’s Office for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka ‣

The protocol is intended to promote national excellence in technologies applied to the space and aerospace industries MORE...

TUESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2024

Listening to cochlear sounds to estimate intracranial pressure changes on the ISS ‣

New results from the ASI experiment Acoustic Diagnostics MORE...

TUESDAY 29 OCTOBER 2024

JUICE’s RIME Radar Pings the Moon and Listens to Earth ‣

ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, launched the 14th April 2023, will make detailed observations of the giant gas planet and its three moons – Ganymede, Callisto and Europa – with a suite of the state-of-the-art instruments MORE...

TUESDAY 29 OCTOBER 2024

CUBESAT Training Course ‣

From October 28 to November 8, 2024 MORE...