Editing Giuseppe Colombo

{{Short description|Italian physicist and mathematician (1920–1984)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
'''Giuseppe "Bepi" Colombo''' (2 October 1920 in [[Padua]] – 20 February 1984 in Padua) was an [[Italians|Italian]] [[scientist]], [[mathematician]] and [[engineer]] at the [[University of Padua]], Italy.

== Mercury ==

Colombo studied the planet [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], and it was his calculations which showed how to get a spacecraft into a solar orbit which would encounter Mercury multiple times, using a [[gravity assist]] manoeuvre with Venus. Due to this idea, [[NASA]] was able to have the [[Mariner 10]] accomplish three fly-bys of Mercury instead of one.<ref>{{cite web  |url=https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/ESA_history/Giuseppe_Bepi_Colombo_Grandfather_of_the_fly-by |title=Giuseppe Bepi Colombo Grandfather of the fly-by |work=Welcome to ESA |accessdate=6 January 2019}}</ref> [[Mariner 10]] was the first <ref name="Mission Overview">{{cite web|title=Mariner 10|url=http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=Mariner_10&Display=ReadMore|date=30 November 2010|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140219012506/http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=Mariner_10&Display=ReadMore |archive-date = 19 February 2014|url-status=dead|accessdate=6 January 2019}}</ref> spacecraft to use gravity assist. Since then, the technique has become common.

Colombo also explained the [[Tidal locking|spin-orbit]] [[Orbital resonance|resonance]] in Mercury's orbit, showing that it rotates three times for every two orbits around the Sun.

== Saturn's rings ==

Colombo also made significant contributions to the study of [[Rings of Saturn|Saturn's rings]], mostly using ground-based observations in the era before space exploration reached the outer Solar System.

== Other contributions ==

* Colombo invented the concept of [[Space tether|tethers for tying satellites together]]. 
* Colombo participated in the planning of ''[[Giotto mission|Giotto]]'', the [[European Space Agency]]'s mission to [[Comet Halley|Halley's Comet]], but died before the spacecraft was launched. He produced the HAPPEN proposal involving using parts for a planned Geos-3 satellite to first examine the earth's [[Magnetosphere#Magnetotail|Magnetotail]] before flying through the tail of Halley’s comet in march 1986.<ref name=calder31 /> This was rejected by the Solar System working group for not offering to return enough information on Halley.<ref name=calder31>{{cite book |last=Calder |first=Nigel |title=Giotto to the comets |publisher=Presswork |publication-place=London |date=1992 |isbn=0-9520115-0-6 |pages=31-32}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
* The [[Giuseppe Colombo Centre for Space Geodesy]] in [[Matera]], Italy.
* [[ESA]] awards a 'Colombo fellowship' each year to a European scientist working in the field of astronautics

Several [[astronomical objects]] and spaceships are named after to honour him:
* The ESA-[[JAXA]] mission to Mercury, which launched at 1:45:28 UTC on 20 October 2018, is named ''[[BepiColombo]]''.<ref>[http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_40_1999_p_EN.html ESA Press Release: ESA's Mercury mission named ''BepiColombo'' in honour of a space pioneer]</ref>
* The [[Rings of Saturn#Colombo Gap and Titan Ringlet|Colombo Gap]] in [[Rings of Saturn|Saturn's rings]].
* The asteroid [[10387 Bepicolombo]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070501172214/http://cisas.unipd.it/Colombo_e.php Biography from the University of Padua]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Colombo, Giuseppe}}
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Padua]]
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:1984 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Italian engineers]]
[[Category:20th-century Italian mathematicians]]


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