L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano L iquid water is a necessary condi- t i o n t o s u s t a i n life as we know it. This very sim- p l e c o n c e p t , i n s p i r e d b y observing life on our planet, h a s l e d s c i e n t i s t s f r o m N A S A J e t P r o p u l s i o n L a b o r a t o r y ( c o m m o n l y known as JPL) to explore the so-called "Ocean Worlds." Ocean Worlds are bodies in our Solar System where large amounts of liquid water are expected to be found under- n e a t h t h e i r i c y c r u s t s . Europa, a Jovian moon, may contain two to three times the water found on Earth, despite it being smaller than our Moon. Europa and Ence- ladus, a Saturnian moon, stand out not only due to the expected abundant liquid water, but also due to the c o m m u n i c a t i o n b e t w e e n these oceans and the surface. This is of paramount impor- tance since traces of what is in the oceans underneath may be found on the surface, which is the most accessible part of these moons. Dr. Marcello Gori, an Italian aerospace engineer at JPL in Pasadena, has joined a t e a m l e d b y L o r i Shiraishi that is working on a proposed mission to land a robotic probe on Europa to investigate its surface prop- erties, evaluate its habitabili- ty, and search for life beyond Earth. "I work on a project related to Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, and a big portion of my time is dedicated to Europa, which is a moon of Jupiter," he tells me from his l a b o r a t o r y a t J P L , i n Pasadena. "Our goal is to learn as much as we can. It m a y r e v e a l t h i n g s t h a t evolved in a different way than the way we are used to observe here on Earth." Passionate about space since he was a kid, Marcello graduated from University of R o m e L a S a p i e n z a a n d moved to California in 2011 t o p u r s u e h i s P h D a t t h e C a l i f o r n i a I n s t i t u t e o f Technology (Caltech). "My f a t h e r w a s a p i l o t a n d i n older planes there were win- dows on top of the cockpit so that they could check the s t a r s a n d n a v i g a t e t h e m . This idea fascinated me as a kid, and my passion for fly- ing grew to the space field a n d e v e n t u a l l y f o r s p a c e exploration." Marcello, there is a lot o f i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t Mars but not a lot about t h e s e O c e a n W o r l d s . Why's that? Resources are limited so NASA needs to select which targets to explore and we started from what is closer a n d m o r e s i m i l a r t o u s . Mars, for instance, had water in the past and its geological processes are not dissimilar from those on Earth. In con- trast, Europa is very far, has a really harsh environment due to the heavy radiations from Jupiter's strong mag- netic field, lacks atmosphere, and has exceptionally low s u r f a c e t e m p e r a t u r e s . I f funded, this would be a very complex and exciting mis- sion. Is the interest about t h e s e O c e a n W o r l d s g r o w i n g n o w ? T h e s e e x t r a o r d i n a r y extraterrestrial worlds could b e c o m e t h e h o t t o p i c o f interplanetary exploration of t h e n e x t d e c a d e . S o m e authors have already started writing novels in a more or less distant future when the first manned mission will visit one of these habitats. T h e r e i s a b o o k f r o m a Chilean author J.P. Landau called Ocean Worlds, that s p e c i f i c a l l y t a l k s a b o u t a h u m a n m i s s i o n t o Enceladus. Enceladus is one of the brightest, maybe the brightest object in the Solar System due to its icy surface reflecting the sunlight, and it's also renown due to its giant geysers, called plumes. The book is a sci-fi story, but the scientific details have b e e n f a c t c h e c k e d b y t h e author with scientists and engineers at NASA like my c o l l e a g u e D r . E d u a r d o Bendek and myself. What is it like for you as a scientist when you watch Hollywood movies a b o u t s p a c e , a r e t h e y accurate? It really depends on the movie. The Martian is defi- nitely a nice one, featuring both JPL and Caltech, and besides I am a fan of Matt Damon. Kip Thorne, a pro- fessor at Caltech in theoreti- cal physics and Nobel prize winner in 2017, notably con- sulted for the Christopher Nolan's movie Interstellar. In general, directors nowa- days tend to do a better job at bringing more science on the screen. Of course, as a scientist, you can always find things that are inaccurate in movies, but you can definite- ly "forgive" some of them more easily! D o y o u p e r s o n a l l y think that there is life out there? That's the elephant in the room. I think the universe is a r e a l l y b i g p l a c e a n d i t would be quite egocentric to t h i n k t h a t w e ' r e t h e o n l y ones out there. So, if there is life and if we find signatures of it, it's going to be a hell of a discovery! In high school, you did c l a s s i c a l s t u d i e s , d i d they help you in some w a y e v e n t h o u g h i t ' s c o m p l e t e l y d i f f e r e n t SILVIA GIUDICI fields? Definitely. Latin and math activate the same areas of the brain. Latin is a very logical language: you start from the verb, then look for the sub- j e c t a n d f o r t h e o b j e c t s around it, following very pre- cise rules. If you think about it, the scientific method is no different: you also follow a set of rules that require you to validate and prove every step, which guarantees its solidity. Do you think there will be any chances for Italy to make research at this level? Italians have incredible potential. Creativity, intu- ition and intelligence are traits that I've seen in many, m a n y c o l l e a g u e s . T h e Italian Space Agency's excellence goes often unno- ticed due to the larger play- ers, but, as an example, there have been numerous collabo- rations between NASA and Italy. What would you like people to consider sci- ence? S c i e n c e h a s n o c o l o r s , and, regardless of whether we like it or not, a scientific fact is a fact. My hope is t h a t p e o p l e w i l l b e c o m e more and more engaged into f o l l o w i n g , b e l i e v i n g , a n d being interested in science. What would the your ultimate goal for your career be? I would like to continue the work and the develop- ments that I've been con- tributing to so far. I'm lucky to be involved in several pro- jects, some engineering ori- ented, others more "sciency" and, as a consequence, to be exposed to various fields. A J P L ' s m o t t o i s "Always make new mis- t a k e s . " D o y o u a g r e e with this? A b s o l u t e l y . E n r i c o Fermi once said that if an experiment goes according to the hypothesis, you've made a measurement. If an experi- ment doesn't go according to the hypothesis, you've made a discovery. And I hope to keep making new discover- ies. Gori at work at Caltech (Photo courtesy of Marcello Gori) Italian aerospace engineer Marcello Gori on his research about Ocean Worlds at NASA LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY

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