INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH SCHOOL OF PLANETARY SCIENCES

Their core work

IRSPS is a specialist research school attached to the University "G. d'Annunzio" of Chieti-Pescara, focused on the scientific study of planets, moons, and other solar system bodies. Their work spans planetary geology, cosmochemistry, analytical chemistry of extraterrestrial materials, and astrobiology — the search for conditions that could support life beyond Earth. In the EPN2020-RI project, they contributed to the Europlanet pan-European planetary science infrastructure, which provides researchers access to laboratory facilities, field analogues, and data tools for studying the solar system. They also participated in FACILITATORS, a project testing building blocks for orbital and surface robotics, indicating applied interest in space exploration technology alongside their core scientific research.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both of IRSPS's H2020 projects started within a single year of each other (2015–2016) and concluded by 2019, so the data does not reveal a long arc of change — their H2020 footprint is essentially a snapshot of one period. In that window, their focus was firmly on planetary science fundamentals: geology, cosmochemistry, analytical chemistry, astrobiology, and space weather, all clustered around the Europlanet infrastructure. The second project (FACILITATORS) introduced a more applied, engineering-adjacent thread around robotics testing, which could indicate an intention to bridge pure science toward space exploration technology — but with no H2020 projects after 2016, this remains a single data point rather than a confirmed trend.

With no H2020 activity after 2016 and both projects concluding by 2019, IRSPS appears to have been most active in EU-funded research in the mid-2010s; any future collaboration would need to verify whether they have pursued funding through other channels since then.

How they like to work

IRSPS has participated exclusively as a consortium partner — never as a coordinator — across both H2020 projects, suggesting they contribute specialist scientific expertise rather than seeking to lead and manage large programs. Their participation in EPN2020-RI placed them inside a very large pan-European network, which accounts for the unusually high partner count (41 partners, 20 countries) relative to only two projects. This profile fits an organization that brings focused domain knowledge to big infrastructure initiatives rather than building its own consortium.

Despite only two projects, IRSPS has touched 41 unique consortium partners across 20 countries — a broad European footprint driven by their membership in the large Europlanet 2020 consortium. Their network is genuinely pan-European, with no obvious geographic concentration beyond their Italian home base.

What sets them apart

IRSPS occupies a specific niche as an Italian academic institution with deep integration into the Europlanet planetary science infrastructure network — one of Europe's primary organized communities for solar system research. Their combination of planetary geology, cosmochemistry, and analytical chemistry under one roof makes them a credible specialist partner for missions, sample analysis programs, or astrobiology research that requires multi-disciplinary planetary science input. For a consortium builder in the space or planetary science domain, IRSPS brings established Europlanet connections and the scientific credibility of a dedicated research school rather than a generalist department.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EPN2020-RI
  The flagship project by budget (€509,810) and scope — IRSPS joined the Europlanet 2020 Research Infrastructure, a continent-wide consortium connecting European planetary science labs, field sites, and data services, giving IRSPS access to and responsibility within one of Europe's premier space science networks.
• FACILITATORS
  A smaller but thematically distinct project testing robotic building blocks for orbital and surface operations, showing that IRSPS's interests extend from pure planetary science into the applied engineering side of space exploration.