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SCRIPT
The comet tail
00:40
What looks like the common work of a pharmacist is in fact the production of test material for a space mission in to explore one of most mysterious celestial bodies: a comet. We are at the Italian space research Institute in Naples, one of the participants in ESA's comet chaser mission Rosetta that will be launched in 2003.
01:02
IN Sound bite Professor Dr. Colangeli INAF Neapel
In this laboratory we produce grains of different chemical composition and morphology that are used to calibrate different instrument like GIADA, that will monitor the dust environment of comets. Of course it is very important to deal with grains that simulated the morphology and the size and chemical composition of the particles. So with sedimentation procedures, we select particles down to about some microns.
01:32
GIADA stands for grain impact analyser and dust accumulator. Giada is one of the instruments on board of the Rosetta orbiter that will investigate the chemical composition and mech