1. Search for Water and Ice in the Solar System (Mars and the Martian South Pole)
This is the field for which he is most widely known globally.
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Subsurface Liquid Water: Orosei served as the Principal Investigator (PI) of the research team that, by analyzing data from the MARSIS radar aboard the Mars Express spacecraft, discovered the presence of liquid, salty water beneath the southern polar cap of Mars.
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Planetary Habitability: Studying the distribution and stability of water and ice on Mars, both on the surface and in the subsurface, to understand its climatic evolution and evaluate its past and present habitability conditions.
2. Remote Sensing and Radar for Space Exploration (Planetary Radar Sounding)
A cornerstone of his work focuses on the methodological and technological development of radar instrumentation to sound the subsurface of celestial bodies:
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Radar Signal Processing and Inversion: Developing numerical models and algorithms to simulate the propagation of electromagnetic waves through ground terrain and ionospheres.
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Dielectric Property Determination: Analyzing the geological composition of the subsurface (rocks, ice, sedimentary deposits) using the dielectric response of radar signals.
3. Planetary Geology and Subsurface of Celestial Bodies
His studies are not limited to Mars, spanning various Solar System bodies to analyze their structure, stratigraphy, and origin:
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Comets and Asteroids: Analyzing data from missions such as Rosetta (VIRTIS instrument) on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and the Dawn mission (at Ceres and Vesta).
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Icy Moons and the Jovian System: Studying the ice shells and crusts of Jupiter’s moons (Europa, Ganymede, Callisto) in preparation for the JUICE mission (via the RIME radar instrument) and supporting the Juno mission.
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The Moon and Martian Satellites: Studying the properties of the lunar subsurface and the characteristics of Phobos and Deimos.
4. Planetary Ionospheres and Plasma Environments
Because radar waves transmitted by spacecraft must travel through planetary ionospheres, these environments become a vital secondary subject of study:
