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In spite of the advent of extremely large telescopes in the UV/optical/NIR range, the current generation of 8-10m facilities is likely to remain competitive at ground-UV wavelengths for the foreseeable future. The Cassegrain U-Band Efficient Spectrograph (CUBES) has been designed to provide high-efficiency (>40%) observations in the near UV (305-400 nm requirement, 300-420 nm goal) at a spectral resolving power of R>20,000, although a lower-resolution, sky-limited mode of R ~ 7,000 is also planned. CUBES will offer new possibilities in many fields of astrophysics, providing access to key lines of stellar spectra: a tremendous diversity of iron-peak and heavy elements, lighter elements (in particular Beryllium) and light-element molecules (CO, CN, OH), as well as Balmer lines and the Balmer jump (particularly important for young stellar objects). The UV range is also critical in extragalactic studies: the circumgalactic medium of distant galaxies, the contribution of different types of sources to the cosmic UV background, the measurement of H2 and primordial Deuterium in a regime of relatively transparent intergalactic medium, and follow-up of explosive transients. The CUBES project completed a Phase A conceptual design in June 2021 and has now entered the Phase B dedicated to detailed design and construction. First science operations are planned for 2028. In this paper, we briefly describe the CUBES project development and goals, the main science cases, the instrument design and the project organization and management., Proceedings for the HACK100 conference, Trieste, June 2022. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2208.01672

The ESA mission Comet Interceptor will target an Oort or interstellar comet during its first approach to the Sun. Meanwhile, the Vera Rubin LSST Survey will observe hundreds of active comets per month beyond 4 au from the Sun, where water vapor pressure is expected to be too low to eject dust. We discuss observations of dust tails at heliocentric distances larger than 4 au in order to retrieve the physical parameters driving cometary activity beyond Jupiter by means of a probabilistic tail model, which is consistent with the activity model defining the gas coma parameters due to the sublimation of carbon monoxide, molecular oxygen, methane, ethane and carbon dioxide since the activity onset at 85 au from the Sun. We find that: (i) All the observed dust tails are consistent with the adopted activity model; (ii) The tail fits depend on three free parameters only, all correlated to the nucleus size; (iii) Tail fits are always improved by anisotropic dust ejection, suggesting activity of Oort nuclei dominated by seasons; (iv) Inbound seasons suggest cometary activity before the ejection of protocomets into the Oort cloud, as predicted by the activity model; (v) Oort nuclei larger than 1 km may be characterized by a fallout up to ≈100 m thick deposited during ≈60 yr inbound; (vi) On the other side, Oort nuclei smaller than 1 km may appear more pristine than Jupiter Family Comets when observed at 1 au from the Sun.

Near-Earth objects (NEOs), due to their proximity to our planet, represent one of the most accessible bodies in the whole Solar System. Their investigation can provide answers to several pressing questions in modern planetology (regarding, e.g., planetary formation, delivery of water and organics to the early Earth, and emergence of life). Moreover, water and valued minerals stored inside NEOs have already intrigued governments and private companies, allured by the idea of exploiting resources through asteroid mining. However, NEOs can represent a risk for future human civilization, since some of them can be potential impactors. To this purpose, the NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) has been approved to be the first demonstration of an hazard mitigation of an asteroid by using a kinetic impactor.

It was recently shown that the layered structure of each of the two lobes of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P) can be modelled as a set of concentric ellipsoidal shells. The ellipsoidal model is able to correctly predict the major layering-related features on the comet surface; however, the ellipsoidal model is a first order approximation of a more complex internal structure. A better description of this latter requires an improved model. In this contribution preliminary results in building a refined three-dimensional model of the comet are presented with focus on the Small Lobe. The model is realized using a 3D geo-modeling technique that embeds linear and planar features (layer joints and terraces) as well as other geometric characteristics (e.g. vectorial fields) as constraints, influencing the reconstruction of the comet layered structure. Results allow accounting for features that are not predicted by the ellipsoidal model, therefore such refined 3D model is a step towards a model of the comet nucleus that may clues useful in unraveling the complex history that shaped it to its present configuration.

Images of the surface of comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken by the OSIRIS camera on board the Rosetta spacecraft have been used to study the statistical distribution and morphological properties of both cluster and isolated roundish structures ('boulders') scattered all over the surface. We used NAC images taken on Aug 5-6, 2014, at a distance between 131.45 - 109.76 km, with a spatial resolution ranging from 2.44 - 2.03 m/px (Fig. 1). Such data cover a full rotation of 67P, providing the first ever full size frequency distribution coverage of boulders ≥ 7m visible on a cometary illuminated side. Boulders are ubiquitous on the head, neck, and body of 67P \citep{thomas15}. The initial count of 4,976 boulders was reduced to 3,546 for statistical purposes taking into consideration only those with a diameter larger than 7 m \citep{pajola15}.

OSIRIS, the Scientific Imaging System for Rosetta mission \citep{keller07} has been acquiring images of the nucleus of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko since Aug 2014 with a resolution that allows a detailed analysis of its surface. Indeed, data reveal a complex surface morphology that is likely the expression of different processes affecting the cometary nucleus \citep{thomas15}. In order to characterize these different morphologies and better understand their distribution we performed a geomorphological mapping of the illuminated surface of 67P. For this purpose we used NAC images acquired on August 5-8 with a spatial resolution ranging from 1.5 and 2.4 m/pixel.

International audience; 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is the target comet of the ESA’s Rosetta mission. After commissioning at the end of March 2014, the Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System (OSIRIS) onboard Rosetta, started imaging the comet and its dust environment to investigate how they change and evolve while approaching the Sun.Methods. We focused our work on Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) orange images and Wide Angle Camera (WAC) red and visible-610 images acquired between 2014 March 23 and June 24 when the nucleus of 67P was unresolved and moving from approximately 4.3 AU to 3.8 AU inbound. During this period the 67P – Rosetta distance decreased from 5 million to 120 thousand km.Results. Through aperture photometry, we investigated how the comet brightness varies with heliocentric distance. 67P was likely already weakly active at the end of March 2014, with excess flux above that expected for the nucleus. The comet’s brightness was mostly constant during the three months of approach observations, apart from one outburst that occurred around April 30 and a second increase in flux after June 20. Coma was resolved in the profiles from mid-April. Analysis of the coma morphology suggests that most of the activity comes from a source towards the celestial north pole of the comet, but the outburst that occurred on April 30 released material in a different direction.

The Martian satellite Phobos has been observed on 2007 February 24 and 25, during the pre- and post-Mars closest approach (CA) of the ESA Rosetta spacecraft Mars swing-by. The goal of the observations was the determination of the surface composition of different areas of Phobos, in order to obtain new clues regarding its nature and origin. Near-ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared (263.5–992.0 nm) images of Phobos's surface were acquired using the Narrow Angle Camera of the OSIRIS instrument onboard Rosetta. The six multi-wavelength sets of observations allowed a spectrophotometric characterization of different areas of the satellite, belonging respectively to the leading and trailing hemisphere of the anti-Mars hemisphere, and also of a section of its sub-Mars hemisphere. The pre-CA spectrophotometric data obtained with a phase angle of 19° have a spectral trend consistent within the error bars with those of unresolved/disc-integrated measurements present in the literature. In addition, we detect an absorption band centred at 950 nm, which is consistent with the presence of pyroxene. The post-CA observations cover from NUV to NIR a portion of the surface (0° to 43°E of longitude) never studied before. The reflectance measured on our data does not fit with the previous spectrophotometry above 650 nm. This difference can be due to two reasons. First, the OSIRIS observed area in this observation phase is completely different with respect to the other local specific spectra and hence the spectrum may be different. Secondly, due to the totally different observation geometry (the phase angle ranges from 137° to 140°), the differences of spectral slope can be due to phase reddening. The comparison of our reflectance spectra, both pre- and post-CA, with those of D-type asteroids shows that the spectra of Phobos are all redder than the mean D-type spectrum, but within the spectral dispersion of other D-types. To complement this result, we performed an investigation of the conditions needed to collisionally capture Phobos in a way similar to that proposed for the irregular satellites of the giant planets. Once put in the context of the current understanding of the evolution of the early Solar system, the coupled observational and dynamical results we obtained strongly argue for an early capture of Phobos, likely immediately after the formation of Mars.

On July 10, 2010, the ESA Rosetta mission successfully flew by the asteroid 21 Lutetia, the biggest asteroid ever encountered by a space mission. The OSIRIS imaging system onboard Rosetta, equipped with a Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) and a Wide Angle Camera (WAC), observed the asteroid in 20 filters extending from 240 to 980 nm with a maximum spatial resolution of 60 m/px. Several color sequences were obtained at different rotational phases for the asteroid. Images with the Orange (647 nm) and OI (630 nm) filters of the NAC and WAC cameras were continously repeated to investigate the phase function in a wide phase angle range, from 0 to 156 degrees. In this work we will present unresolved spectrophotometry results, the albedo map and the phase function of 21 lutetia derived by the OSIRIS instrument. Potential albedo variations will be presented as well. We will finally discuss the implications for the mineralogy and the surface evolution of the asteroid.

On July 10, 2010, the Rosetta ESA/NASA spacecraft successfully flew by the asteroid (21) Lutetia, which becomes the largest asteroid observed by a space probe. The closest approach occurred at 15H45 UTC at a relative speed of 15km/s and a relative distance of 3160 km. The Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) and the Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the OSIRIS instrument onboard Rosetta acquired images at different phase angles ranging from almost zero to more than 150 degrees. The best spatial resolution (60 m/pixel) allowed to reveal a very complex topography with several features and different crater's surface densities. Spectrophotometric analysis of the data could suggest spatial variations of the albedo and spectral properties at the surface of the asteroid, at least in the northern hemisphere. Numerous sets of data have been obtained at different wavelengths from 270nm to 980nm. We will first present a color-color analysis of data in order to locate landscapes where surface variegation is present. We will also present a more accurate study of spectral properties using the shape model and different statistical methods. Possible variations of the surface spectral properties with the slope of the ground and the gravity field orientation will be discussed as well.

Context. The European Space Agency Rosetta mission reached and started escorting its main target, the Jupiter-family comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, at the beginning of August 2014. Within the context of solar system small bodies, satellite searches from approaching spacecraft were extensively used in the past to study the nature of the visited bodies and their collisional environment. Aims. During the approaching phase to the comet in July 2014, the OSIRIS instrument onboard Rosetta performed a campaign aimed at detecting objects in the vicinity of the comet nucleus and at measuring these objects' possible bound orbits. In addition to the scientific purpose, the search also focused on spacecraft security to avoid hazardous material in the comet's environment. Methods. Images in the red spectral domain were acquired with the OSIRIS Narrow Angle Camera, when the spacecraft was at a distance between 5785 km and 5463 km to the comet, following an observational strategy tailored to maximize the scientific outcome. From the acquired images, sources were extracted and displayed to search for plausible displacements of all sources from image to image. After stars were identified, the remaining sources were thoroughly analyzed. To place constraints on the expected displacements of a potential satellite, we performed Monte Carlo simulations on the apparent motion of potential satellites within the Hill sphere. Results. We found no unambiguous detections of objects larger than similar to 6 m within similar to 20 km and larger than similar to 1 m between similar to 20 km and similar to 110 km from the nucleus, using images with an exposure time of 0.14 s and 1.36 s, respectively. Our conclusions are consistent with independent works on dust grains in the comet coma and on boulders counting on the nucleus surface. Moreover, our analysis shows that the comet outburst detected at the end of April 2014 was not strong enough to eject large objects and to place them into a stable orbit around the nucleus. Our findings underline that it is highly unlikely that large objects survive for a long time around cometary nuclei.

The Wide Angle Camera of the OSIRIS instrument on board the Rosetta spacecraft is equipped with several narrowband filters that are centered on the emission lines and bands of various fragment species. These are used to determine the evolution of the production and spatial distribution of the gas in the inner coma of comet 67P with time and heliocentric distance, here between 2.6 – 1.3 AU pre-perihelion.

We provide a detailed geomorphological and spectrophotometric analysis of the circular niches located on the Seth region of 67P using OSIRIS images. The features can be related to landslide events that occurred on 67P and shaped its surface, as the recent Aswan cliff collapse detected in the same region. We therefore provide an analysis of the area pre- and post-perihelion suggesting that no specific changes have been observed. To assess this, after performing a geomorphological map of the area that allows us to identify different terrain units, we computed the boulders cumulative size frequency distribution (SFD) of the niches, before and after the perihelion passage. The niches SFDs are characterized by a similar trend with two different power-law indices within the same deposit: lower power-law value (between −2.3 and −2.7) for boulders smaller than 5 m and steeper power-law value (between −4.7 and −5.0) for boulders larger than 5 m. These trends suggest that smaller boulders have evolved and progressively have been depleted (lower power-law index), while bigger boulders are more representative of the event that generated the deposit and are less degraded. Then, we perform the spectrophotometric analysis of this region comparing pre- and post-perihelion results. We found colour changes within the area, in particular brighter patches related to the presence of exposed water ice mixed to the refractory materials have been detected in the post-perihelion images.