Matter and the Universe
On the trail of cosmic ice
The federal government is providing CHF 1.3 million in funding for the development of a new type of space instrument under the leadership of Nicolas Thomas, Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Bern. In future, this instrument will be used to study water ice beneath the surface of comets, planets and moons.
Comets are large chunks of ice and dust. They are considered to be the remains of the material from which our planetary system was formed 4.5 billion years ago. By studying comets, researchers hope to gain insights into the formation and development of our solar system, among other things. "With comets, it is crucial that we can examine the material and its structure beneath the surface, because the influence of the sun has changed everything on the surface," explains Nicolas Thomas, Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Bern. This is the only way to draw conclusions about how dust and ice bonded together in the early solar system, when the sun was surrounded by a protoplanetary disk of material from which our planetary system was ultimately formed.
The new SUBICE instrument will one day fly into space with space probes and study water ice under the surface of comets, planets and moons. The project is being funded as part of MARVIS, a program of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). MARVIS stands for "Multidisciplinary Applied Research Ventures in Space". SUBICE was one of the two projects selected following an evaluation by the SNSF and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, Education and Innovation (SERI) and is now being funded with CHF 1.3 million.