Priority Science Targets for Future Sample Return Missions within the Solar System Out to the Year 2050

Science.gov (United States)

McCubbin, F. M.; Allton, J. H.; Barnes, J. J.; Boyce, J. W.; Burton, A. S.; Draper, D. S.; Evans, C. A.; Fries, M. D.; Jones, J. H.; Keller, L. P.;

Catching Stardust and Bringing it Home: The Astronomical Importance of Sample Return

Science.gov (United States)

Brownlee, D.

2002-12-01

The return of lunar samples by the Apollo program provided the first opportunity to perform detailed laboratory studies of ancient solid materials from a known astronomical body. The highly detailed study of the samples, using the best available laboratory instruments and techniques, revolutionized our understanding of the Moon and provided fundamental insight into the remarkable and violent processes that occur early in the history of moons and terrestrial planets. This type of astronomical paleontology is only possible with samples and yet the last US sample return was made by Apollo 17- over thirty years ago! The NASA Stardust mission, began a new era of sample missions with its 1999 launch to retrieve samples from the short period comet Wild 2. Genesis (a solar wind collector) was launched in 2001, the Japanese MUSES-C asteroid sample return mission will launch in 2003 and Mars sample return missions are under study. All of these missions will use sophisticated ground-based instrumentation to provide types of information that cannot be obtained by astronomical and spacecraft remote sensing methods. In the case of Stardust, the goal is to determine the fundamental nature of the initial solid building blocks of solar systems at atomic-scale spatial resolution. The samples returned by the mission will be samples from the Kuiper Belt region and they are probably composed of submicron silicate and organic materials of both presolar and nebular origin. Unlocking the detailed records contained in the elemental, chemical, isotopic and mineralogical composition of these tiny components can only be appropriately explored with full power, precision and flexibility of laboratory instrumentation. Laboratory instrumentation has the advantage that is state-of-the-art and is not limited by serious considerations of power, mass, cost or even reliability. The comparison of the comet sample, accumulated beyond Neptune, with asteroidal meteorites that accumulated just beyond the

Small D-type asteroids in the NEO population: new targets for space missions

Science.gov (United States)

Barucci, Maria Antonietta; Perna, D.; Popescu, M.; Fornasier, S.; Doressoundiram, A.; Lantz, C.; Merlin, F.; Fulchignoni, M.; Dotto, E.; Kanuchova, S.

2018-06-01

In the framework of the Near Earth Objects (NEOs) observational campaign carried out within the NEOShield-2 project, we identify nine new small D-type asteroids with estimated diameter less than 600 m. The link with meteorites for this class of asteroids is weak and the best fit obtained is with the Tagish Lake meteorite for seven of them. D-type asteroids are believed to contain the most pristine material of the Solar system and could have delivered the pre-biotic material to the Earth. Our results double the known sample of the D-types in the NEO population and triple the candidates of this class for a sample-return mission (at very low ΔV). Our finding increases considerably the number of targets for sample-return mission. A sample-return mission to a D-type asteroid will provide a major progress in understanding the early history of the Solar system and to investigate the origin of life on the Earth.

Initial analysis and curation plans for MUSES-C asteroidal samples

Science.gov (United States)

Yano, H.; Kushiro, I.; Fujiwara, A.

In the MUSES-C mission, sample return of several hundred mg to several g in to- tal is expected from the surface of the S-type near Earth asteroid 1998SF36 in 2007. The MUSES-C samples are expected to be more similar to micrometeorites than large pieces of rocks. Also the initial analysis to characterize general aspects of returned samples can consume only 15 % of its total mass and must complete the whole anal- yses including the database building before international AO for detailed analyses opens in less than a year. Confident exercise of non-destructive, micro-analyses when- ever possible are thus vital for the SMUSES-C Asteroidal Sample Preliminary Exam- ination Team (MASPET)T, which will be formed by the ISAS MUSES-C team, the international partners from NASA and Australia and Sall-JapanT meteoritic scientists to be selected as outsourcing parts of the initial analyses. In 2000-2001, in the pur- pose to survey what kinds and levels of micro-analysis techniques in respective fields, from major elements and mineralogy to trace and isotopic elements and organics, are available in Japan at present, ISAS welcomed a total of 11 applications to the first round open competition for the MASPET candidates. The initial evaluation was made by multiple domestic peer reviews. Nine out of 11 were then provided two kinds of Sasteroid sample analogsT that no applicant knew what they were in advance by the Selection Committee (chair: I. Kushiro) in order to conduct proposed analysis with self-claimed amount of samples (100 mg max) in self-claimed duration (6 months max). The proponents must demonstrate how much their technical capabilities, ana- lytical precision, and usefulness of the derived results for subsequent detailed analyses are worth being included in the MASPET studies. After the completion of multiple, international peer reviews, the Selection Committee compiled evaluations and recom- mended the finalists of this round competition. However, it is also recognized

Laboratory Studies of Cometary Materials - Continuity Between Asteroid and Comet

Science.gov (United States)

Messenger, Scott; Walker, Robert M.

2015-01-01

Laboratory analysis of cometary samples have been enabled by collection of cometary dust in the stratosphere by high altitude aircraft and by the direct sampling of the comet Wild-2 coma by the NASA Stardust spacecraft. Cometary materials are composed of a complex assemblage of highly primitive, unprocessed interstellar and primordial solar system materials as well as a variety of high temperature phases that must have condensed in the inner regions of the protoplanetary disk. These findings support and contradict conclusions of comet properties based solely on astronomical observations. These sample return missions have instead shown that there is a continuity of properties between comets and asteroids, where both types of materials show evidence for primitive and processed materials. Furthermore, these findings underscore the importance and value of direct sample return. There will be great value in comparing the findings of the Stardust cometary coma sample return mission with those of future asteroid surface sample returns OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa II as well as future comet nucleus sample returns.

Strategy for Ranking the Science Value of the Surface of Asteroid 101955 Bennu for Sample Site Selection for Osiris-REx

Science.gov (United States)

Nakamura-Messenger, K.; Connolly, H. C., Jr.; Lauretta, D. S.

2014-01-01

OSRIS-REx is NASA's New Frontiers 3 sample return mission that will return at least 60 g of pristine surface material from near-Earth asteroid 101955 Bennu in September 2023. The scientific value of the sample increases enormously with the amount of knowledge captured about the geological context from which the sample is collected. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is highly maneuverable and capable of investigating the surface of Bennu at scales down to the sub-cm. The OSIRIS-REx instruments will characterize the overall surface geology including spectral properties, microtexture, and geochemistry of the regolith at the sampling site in exquisite detail for up to 505 days after encountering Bennu in August 2018. The mission requires at the very minimum one acceptable location on the asteroid where a touch-and-go (TAG) sample collection maneuver can be successfully per-formed. Sample site selection requires that the follow-ing maps be produced: Safety, Deliverability, Sampleability, and finally Science Value. If areas on the surface are designated as safe, navigation can fly to them, and they have ingestible regolith, then the scientific value of one site over another will guide site selection.

PlanetVac: Sample Return with a Puff of Gas

Science.gov (United States)

Zacny, K.; Mueller, R.; Betts, B. H.

2014-12-01

PlanetVac is a regolith sample acquisition mission concept that uses compressed gas to blow material from the surface up a pneumatic tube and directly into a sample return container. The PlanetVac sampling device is built into the lander legs to eliminate cost and complexity associated with robotic arms and scoops. The pneumatic system can effectively capture fine and coarse regolith, including small pebbles. It is well suited for landed missions to Mars, asteroids, or the Moon. Because of the low pressures on all those bodies, the technique is extremely efficient. If losses are kept to minimum, 1 gram of compressed gas could efficiently lift 6000 grams of soil. To demonstrate this approach, the PlanetVac lander with four legs and two sampling tubes has been designed, integrated, and tested. Vacuum chamber testing was performed using two well-known planetary regolith simulants: Mars Mojave Simulant (MMS) and lunar regolith simulant JSC-1A. One of the two sampling systems was connected to a mockup of an earth return rocket while the second sampling system was connected to a lander deck mounted instrument (clear box for easy viewing). The tests included a drop from a height of approximately 50 cm onto the bed of regolith, deployment of sampling tubes into the regolith, pneumatic acquisition of sample into an instrument (sample container) and the rocket, and the launch of the rocket. The demonstration has been successful and can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjJXvtQk6no. In most of the tests, 20 grams or more of sample was delivered to the 'instrument' and approximately 5 grams of regolith was delivered into a sampling chamber within the rocket. The gas lifting efficiency was calculated to be approximately 1000:1; that is 1 gram of gas lofted 1000 grams of regolith. Efficiencies in lower gravity environments are expected to be much higher. This successful, simple and lightweight sample capture demonstration paves the way to using such sampling system

Hayabusa Asteroidal Sample Preliminary Examination Team (HASPET) and the Astromaterial Curation Facility at JAXA/ISAS

Science.gov (United States)

Yano, H.; Fujiwara, A.

After the successful launch in May 2003, the Hayabusa (MUSES-C) mission of JAXA/ISAS will collect surface materials (e.g., regolith) of several hundred mg to several g in total from the S-type near Earth asteroid (25143) Itokawa in late 2005 and bring them back to ground laboratories in the summer of 2007. The retrieved samples will be given initial analysis at the JAXA/ISAS astromaterial curation facility, which is currently in the preparation for its construction, by the Hayabusa Asteroidal Sample Preliminary Examination Team (HASPET). HASPET is consisted of the ISAS Hayabusa team, the international partners from NASA and Australia and all-Japan meteoritic scientists to be selected as outsourcing parts of the initial analyses. The initial analysis to characterize general aspects of returned samples can consume only 15 % of its total mass and must complete the whole analyses including the database building before international AO for detailed analyses within the maximum of 1 year. Confident exercise of non-destructive, micro-analyses whenever possible are thus vital for the HASPET analysis. In the purpose to survey what kinds and levels of micro-analysis techniques in respective fields, from major elements and mineralogy to trace and isotopic elements and organics, are available in Japan at present, ISAS has conducted the HASPET open competitions in 2000-01 and 2004. The initial evaluation was made by multiple domestic peer reviews. Applicants were then provided two kinds of unknown asteroid sample analogs in order to conduct proposed analysis with self-claimed amount of samples in self-claimed duration. After the completion of multiple, international peer reviews, the Selection Committee compiled evaluations and recommended the finalists of each round. The final members of the HASPET will be appointed about 2 years prior to the Earth return. Then they will conduct a test-run of the whole initial analysis procedures at the ISAS astromaterial curation facility and

2015 Barcelona Asteroid Day

CERN Document Server

Gritsevich, Maria; Palme, Herbert

2017-01-01

This volume is a compilation of the research presented at the International Asteroid Day workshop which was celebrated at Barcelona on June 30th, 2015. The proceedings discuss the beginning of a new era in the study and exploration of the solar system’s minor bodies. International Asteroid Day commemorates the Tunguska event of June 30th, 1908. The workshop’s goal was to promote the importance of dealing proactively with impact hazards from space. Multidisciplinary experts contributed to this discussion by describing the nature of comets and asteroids along with their offspring, meteoroids. New missions to return material samples of asteroids back to Earth such as Osiris-REx and Hayabusa 2, as well as projects like AIM and DART which will test impact deflection techniques for Potentially Hazardous Asteroids encounters were also covered. The proceedings include both an outreach level to popularize impact hazards and a scientific character which covers the latest knowledge on these topics, as well as offeri...

Hayabusa2 Sampler: Collection of Asteroidal Surface Material

Science.gov (United States)

Sawada, Hirotaka; Okazaki, Ryuji; Tachibana, Shogo; Sakamoto, Kanako; Takano, Yoshinori; Okamoto, Chisato; Yano, Hajime; Miura, Yayoi; Abe, Masanao; Hasegawa, Sunao; Noguchi, Takaaki

2017-07-01

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the asteroid exploration probe "Hayabusa2" in December 3rd, 2014, following the 1st Hayabusa mission. With technological and scientific improvements from the Hayabusa probe, we plan to visit the C-type asteroid 162137 Ryugu (1999 JU3), and to sample surface materials of the C-type asteroid that is likely to be different from the S-type asteroid Itokawa and contain more pristine materials, including organic matter and/or hydrated minerals, than S-type asteroids. We developed the Hayabusa2 sampler to collect a minimum of 100 mg of surface samples including several mm-sized particles at three surface locations without any severe terrestrial contamination. The basic configuration of the sampler design is mainly as same as the 1st Hayabusa (Yano et al. in Science, 312(5778):1350-1353, 2006), with several minor but important modifications based on lessons learned from the Hayabusa to fulfill the scientific requirements and to raise the scientific value of the returned samples.

Measuring the Shock Stage of Asteroid Regolith Grains by Electron Back-Scattered Diffraction

Science.gov (United States)

Zolensky, Michael; Martinez, James; Sitzman, Scott; Mikouchi, Takashi; Hagiya, Kenji; Ohsumi, Kazumasa; Terada, Yasuko; Yagi, Naoto; Komatsu, Mutsumi; Ozawa, Hikaru;

Advanced Curation: Solving Current and Future Sample Return Problems

Science.gov (United States)

Fries, M.; Calaway, M.; Evans, C.; McCubbin, F.

2015-01-01

Advanced Curation is a wide-ranging and comprehensive research and development effort at NASA Johnson Space Center that identifies and remediates sample related issues. For current collections, Advanced Curation investigates new cleaning, verification, and analytical techniques to assess their suitability for improving curation processes. Specific needs are also assessed for future sample return missions. For each need, a written plan is drawn up to achieve the requirement. The plan draws while upon current Curation practices, input from Curators, the analytical expertise of the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) team, and suitable standards maintained by ISO, IEST, NIST and other institutions. Additionally, new technologies are adopted on the bases of need and availability. Implementation plans are tested using customized trial programs with statistically robust courses of measurement, and are iterated if necessary until an implementable protocol is established. Upcoming and potential NASA missions such as OSIRIS-REx, the Asteroid Retrieval Mission (ARM), sample return missions in the New Frontiers program, and Mars sample return (MSR) all feature new difficulties and specialized sample handling requirements. The Mars 2020 mission in particular poses a suite of challenges since the mission will cache martian samples for possible return to Earth. In anticipation of future MSR, the following problems are among those under investigation: What is the most efficient means to achieve the less than 1.0 ng/sq cm total organic carbon (TOC) cleanliness required for all sample handling hardware? How do we maintain and verify cleanliness at this level? The Mars 2020 Organic Contamination Panel (OCP) predicts that organic carbon, if present, will be present at the "one to tens" of ppb level in martian near-surface samples. The same samples will likely contain wt% perchlorate salts, or approximately 1,000,000x as much perchlorate oxidizer as organic carbon

Project RAMA: Reconstructing Asteroids Into Mechanical Automata

Science.gov (United States)

Dunn, Jason; Fagin, Max; Snyder, Michael; Joyce, Eric

2017-01-01

captured and transported using Earth-launched propulsion technology. Project RAMA is not forced into this constraint. The mission concept studied involved transporting a much larger approximately 50-meter asteroid to cislunar space. Demonstration of transport of a 50-meter-class asteroid has several ground-breaking advantages. First, the returned material is of an industrial, rather than just scientific, quantity (greater than 10,000 tonnes versus approximately10s of tonnes). Second, the "useless" material in the asteroid is gathered and expended as part of the asteroid's propulsion system, allowing the returned asteroid to be considerably "purer" than a conventional asteroid retrieval mission. Third, the infrastructure used to convert and return the asteroid is reusable, and capable of continually returning asteroids to cislunar space.

Planetary Protection for LIFE-Sample Return from Enceladus

Science.gov (United States)

Tsou, Peter; Yano, Hajime; Takano, Yoshinori; McKay, David; Takai, Ken; Anbar, Ariel; Baross, J.

Introduction: We are seeking a balanced approach to returning Enceladus plume samples to state-of-the-art terrestrial laboratories to search for signs of life. NASA, ESA, JAXA and other space agencies are seeking habitable worlds and life beyond Earth. Enceladus, an icy moon of Saturn, is the first known body in the Solar System besides Earth to emit liquid water from its interior. Enceladus is the most accessible body in our Solar System for a low cost flyby sample return mission to capture aqueous based samples, to determine its state of life development, and shed light on how life can originate on wet planets/moons. LIFE combines the unique capabilities of teams of international exploration expertise. These returned Enceladus plume samples will determine if this habitable body is in fact inhabited [McKay et al, 2014]. This paper describes an approach for the LIFE mission to capture and return samples from Enceladus while meeting NASA and COSPAR planetary protection requirements. Forward planetary protection requirements for spacecraft missions to icy solar system bodies have been defined, however planetary protection requirements specific to an Earth return of samples collected from Enceladus or other Outer Planet Icy Moons, have yet to be defined. Background: From the first half century of space exploration, we have returned samples only from the Moon, comet Wild 2, the Solar Wind and the asteroid Itokawa. The in-depth analyses of these samples in terrestrial laboratories have yielded detailed chemical information that could not have been obtained otherwise. While obtaining samples from Solar System bodies is trans-formative science, it is rarely performed due to cost and complexity. The discovery by Cassini of geysers on Enceladus and organic materials in the ejected plume indicates that there is an exceptional opportunity and strong scientific rationale for LIFE. The earliest low-cost possible flight opportunity is the next Discovery Mission [Tsou et al 2012

MASCOT—The Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout Onboard the Hayabusa2 Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Ho, Tra-Mi; Baturkin, Volodymyr; Grimm, Christian; Grundmann, Jan Thimo; Hobbie, Catherin; Ksenik, Eugen; Lange, Caroline; Sasaki, Kaname; Schlotterer, Markus; Talapina, Maria; Termtanasombat, Nawarat; Wejmo, Elisabet; Witte, Lars; Wrasmann, Michael; Wübbels, Guido; Rößler, Johannes; Ziach, Christian; Findlay, Ross; Biele, Jens; Krause, Christian; Ulamec, Stephan; Lange, Michael; Mierheim, Olaf; Lichtenheldt, Roy; Maier, Maximilian; Reill, Josef; Sedlmayr, Hans-Jürgen; Bousquet, Pierre; Bellion, Anthony; Bompis, Olivier; Cenac-Morthe, Celine; Deleuze, Muriel; Fredon, Stephane; Jurado, Eric; Canalias, Elisabet; Jaumann, Ralf; Bibring, Jean-Pierre; Glassmeier, Karl Heinz; Hercik, David; Grott, Matthias; Celotti, Luca; Cordero, Federico; Hendrikse, Jeffrey; Okada, Tatsuaki

2017-07-01

On December 3rd, 2014, the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) launched successfully the Hayabusa2 (HY2) spacecraft to its journey to Near Earth asteroid (162173) Ryugu. Aboard this spacecraft is a compact landing package, MASCOT (Mobile Asteroid surface SCOuT), which was developed by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in collaboration with the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). Similar to the famous predecessor mission Hayabusa, Hayabusa2, will also study an asteroid and return samples to Earth. This time, however, the target is a C-type asteroid which is considered to be more primitive than (25143) Itokawa and provide insight into an even earlier stage of our Solar System.

Capturing asteroids into bound orbits around the earth: Massive early return on an asteroid terminal defense system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hills, J.G.

1992-01-01

Nuclear explosives may be used to capture small asteroids (e.g., 20--50 meters in diameter) into bound orbits around the earth. The captured objects could be used for construction material for manned and unmanned activity in Earth orbit. Asteroids with small approach velocities, which are the ones most likely to have close approaches to the Earth, require the least energy for capture. They are particularly easy to capture if they pass within one Earth radius of the surface of the Earth. They could be intercepted with intercontinental missiles if the latter were retrofit with a more flexible guiding and homing capability. This asteroid capture-defense system could be implemented in a few years at low cost by using decommissioned ICMs. The economic value of even one captured asteroid is many times the initial investment. The asteroid capture system would be an essential part of the learning curve for dealing with larger asteroids that can hit the earth

Mars Sample Return Architecture Overview

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, C. D.; Vijendran, S.

2018-04-01

NASA and ESA are exploring potential concepts for a Sample Retrieval Lander and Earth Return Orbiter that could return samples planned to be collected and cached by the Mars 2020 rover mission. We provide an overview of the Mars Sample Return architecture.

Earth-return trajectory options for the 1985-86 Halley opportunity

Science.gov (United States)

Farquhar, R. W.; Dunham, D. W.

1982-01-01

A unique and useful family of ballistic trajectories to Halley's comet is described. The distinguishing feature of this family is that all of the trajectories return to the Earth's vicinity after the Halley intercept. It is shown that, in some cases, the original Earth-return path can be reshaped by Earth-swingby maneuvers to achieve additional small-body encounters. One mission profile includes flybys of the asteroid Geographos and comet Tempel-2 following the Halley intercept. Dual-flyby missions involving comets Encke and Borrelly and the asteroid Anteros are also discussed. Dust and gas samples are collected during the high-velocity (about 70 km/sec) flythrough of Halley, and then returned to a high-apogee Earth orbit. Aerobraking maneuvers are used to bring the sample-return spacecraft to a low-altitude circular orbit where it can be recovered by the Space Shuttle.

AIDA: Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, A. F.; Galvez, A.; Carnelli, I.; Michel, P.; Rivkin, A.; Reed, C.

2012-12-01

To protect the Earth from a hazardous asteroid impact, various mitigation methods have been proposed, including deflection of the asteroid by a spacecraft impact. AIDA, consisting of two mission elements, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) and the Asteroid Impact Monitoring (AIM) mission, is a demonstration of asteroid deflection. To date, there has been no such demonstration, and there is major uncertainty in the result of a spacecraft impact onto an asteroid, that is, the amount of deflection produced by a given momentum input from the impact. This uncertainty is in part due to unknown physical properties of the asteroid surface, such as porosity and strength, and in part due to poorly understood impact physics such that the momentum carried off by ejecta is highly uncertain. A first mission to demonstrate asteroid deflection would not only be a major step towards gaining the capability to mitigate an asteroid hazard, but in addition it would return unique information on an asteroid's strength, other surface properties, and internal structure. This information return would be highly relevant to future human exploration of asteroids. We report initial results of the AIDA joint mission concept study undertaken by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and ESA with support from NASA centers including Goddard, Johnson and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For AIDA, the DART spacecraft impactor study is coordinated with an ESA study of the AIM mission, which would rendezvous with the same asteroid to measure effects of the impact. Unlike the previous Don Quijote mission study performed by ESA in 2005-2007, DART envisions an impactor spacecraft to intercept the secondary member of a binary near-Earth asteroid. DART includes ground-based observations to measure the deflection independently of the rendezvous spacecraft observations from AIM, which also measures deflection and provides detailed characterization of the target asteroid. The joint mission AIDA

Analysis of the Touch-And-Go Surface Sampling Concept for Comet Sample Return Missions

Science.gov (United States)

Mandic, Milan; Acikmese, Behcet; Bayard, David S.; Blackmore, Lars

2012-01-01

This paper studies the Touch-and-Go (TAG) concept for enabling a spacecraft to take a sample from the surface of a small primitive body, such as an asteroid or comet. The idea behind the TAG concept is to let the spacecraft descend to the surface, make contact with the surface for several seconds, and then ascend to a safe location. Sampling would be accomplished by an end-effector that is active during the few seconds of surface contact. The TAG event is one of the most critical events in a primitive body sample-return mission. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the dynamic behavior of a representative spacecraft during the TAG event, i.e., immediately prior, during, and after surface contact of the sampler. The study evaluates the sample-collection performance of the proposed sampling end-effector, in this case a brushwheel sampler, while acquiring material from the surface during the contact. A main result of the study is a guidance and control (G&C) validation of the overall TAG concept, in addition to specific contributions to demonstrating the effectiveness of using nonlinear clutch mechanisms in the sampling arm joints, and increasing the length of the sampling arms to improve robustness.

Osiris-Rex and Hayabusa2 Sample Cleanroom Design and Construction Planning at NASA-JSC

Science.gov (United States)

Righter, Kevin; Pace, Lisa F.; Messenger, Keiko

2018-01-01

Final Paper and not the abstract is attached. The OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission launched to asteroid Bennu September 8, 2016. The spacecraft will arrive at Bennu in late 2019, orbit and map the asteroid, and perform a touch and go (TAG) sampling maneuver in July 2020. After confirma-tion of successful sample stowage, the spacecraft will return to Earth, and the sample return capsule (SRC) will land in Utah in September 2023. Samples will be recovered from Utah and then transported and stored in a new sample cleanroom at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. All curation-specific ex-amination and documentation activities related to Ben-nu samples will be conducted in the dedicated OSIRIS-REx sample cleanroom to be built at NASA-JSC.

The Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM)

Science.gov (United States)

Abell, Paul; Gates, Michele; Johnson, Lindley; Chodas, Paul; Mazanek, Dan; Reeves, David; Ticker, Ronald

2016-07-01

To achieve its long-term goal of sending humans to Mars, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to proceed in a series of incrementally more complex human spaceflight missions. Today, human flight experience extends only to Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), and should problems arise during a mission, the crew can return to Earth in a matter of minutes to hours. The next logical step for human spaceflight is to gain flight experience in the vicinity of the Moon. These cis-lunar missions provide a "proving ground" for the testing of systems and operations while still accommodating an emergency return path to the Earth that would last only several days. Cis-lunar mission experience will be essential for more ambitious human missions beyond the Earth-Moon system, which will require weeks, months, or even years of transit time. In addition, NASA has been given a Grand Challenge to find all asteroid threats to human populations and know what to do about them. Obtaining knowledge of asteroid physical properties combined with performing technology demonstrations for planetary defense provide much needed information to address the issue of future asteroid impacts on Earth. Hence the combined objectives of human exploration and planetary defense give a rationale for the Asteroid Re-direct Mission (ARM). Mission Description: NASA's ARM consists of two mission segments: 1) the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM), the first robotic mission to visit a large (greater than ~100 m diameter) near-Earth asteroid (NEA), collect a multi-ton boulder from its surface along with regolith samples, demonstrate a planetary defense technique, and return the asteroidal material to a stable orbit around the Moon; and 2) the Asteroid Redirect Crewed Mission (ARCM), in which astronauts will take the Orion capsule to rendezvous and dock with the robotic vehicle, conduct multiple extravehicular activities to explore the boulder, and return to Earth with samples. NASA's proposed

Asteroid Redirection Mission Evaluation Using Multiple Landers

Science.gov (United States)

Bazzocchi, Michael C. F.; Emami, M. Reza

2018-01-01

In this paper, a low-thrust tugboat redirection method is assessed using multiple spacecraft for a target range of small near-Earth asteroids. The benefits of a landed configuration of tugboat spacecraft in formation are examined for the redirection of a near-Earth asteroid. The tugboat method uses a gimballed thruster with a highly collimated ion beam to generate a thrust on the asteroid. The target asteroid range focuses on near-Earth asteroids smaller than 150 m in diameter, and carbonaceous (C-type) asteroids, due to the volatiles available for in-situ utilization. The assessment focuses primarily on the three key parameters, i.e., the asteroid mass redirected, the timeframe for redirection, and the overall system cost. An evaluation methodology for each parameter is discussed in detail, and the parameters are employed to determine the expected return and feasibility of the redirection mission. The number of spacecraft employed is optimized along with the electrical power needed for each spacecraft to ensure the highest possible return on investment. A discussion of the optimization results and the benefits of spacecraft formation for the tugboat method are presented.

Technology Development and Advanced Planning for Curation of Returned Mars Samples

Science.gov (United States)

Lindstrom, David J.; Allen, Carlton C.

2002-01-01

NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) curates extraterrestrial samples, providing the international science community with lunar rock and soil returned by the Apollo astronauts, meteorites collected in Antarctica, cosmic dust collected in the stratosphere, and hardware exposed to the space environment. Curation comprises initial characterization of new samples, preparation and allocation of samples for research, and clean, secure long-term storage. The foundations of this effort are the specialized cleanrooms (class 10 to 10,000) for each of the four types of materials, the supporting facilities, and the people, many of whom have been doing detailed work in clean environments for decades. JSC is also preparing to curate the next generation of extraterrestrial samples. These include samples collected from the solar wind, a comet, and an asteroid. Early planning and R\\&D are underway to support post-mission sample handling and curation of samples returned from Mars. One of the strong scientific reasons for returning samples from Mars is to search for evidence of current or past life in the samples. Because of the remote possibility that the samples may contain life forms that are hazardous to the terrestrial biosphere, the National Research Council has recommended that all samples returned from Mars be kept under strict biological containment until tests show that they can safely be released to other laboratories. It is possible that Mars samples may contain only scarce or subtle traces of life or prebiotic chemistry that could readily be overwhelmed by terrestrial contamination . Thus, the facilities used to contain, process, and analyze samples from Mars must have a combination of high-level biocontainment and organic / inorganic chemical cleanliness that is unprecedented. JSC has been conducting feasibility studies and developing designs for a sample receiving facility that would offer biocontainment at least the equivalent of current maximum containment BSL-4 (Bio

PHYS: Division of Physical Chemistry 258 - Properties and Origins of Cometary and Asteroidal Organic Matter Delivered to the Early Earth

Science.gov (United States)

Messenger, Scott; Nguyen, Ann

2017-01-01

Comets and asteroids may have contributed much of the Earth's water and organic matter. The Earth accretes approximately 4x10(exp 7) Kg of dust and meteorites from these sources every year. The least altered meteorites contain complex assemblages of organic compounds and abundant hydrated minerals. These carbonaceous chondrite meteorites probably derive from asteroids that underwent hydrothermal processing within the first few million years after their accretion. Meteorite organics show isotopic and chemical signatures of low-T ion-molecule and grain-surface chemistry and photolysis of icy grains that occurred in cold molecular clouds and the outer protoplanetary disk. These signatures have been overprinted by aqueously mediated chemistry in asteroid parent bodies, forming amino acids and other prebiotic molecules. Comets are much richer in organic matter but it is less well characterized. Comet dust collected in the stratosphere shows larger H and N isotopic anomalies than most meteorites, suggesting better preservation of primordial organics. Rosetta studies of comet 67P coma dust find complex organic matter that may be related to the macromolecular material that dominates the organic inventory of primitive meteorites. The exogenous organic material accreting on Earth throughout its history is made up of thousands of molecular species formed in diverse processes ranging from circumstellar outflows to chemistry at near absolute zero in dark cloud cores and the formative environment within minor planets. NASA and JAXA are currently flying sample return missions to primitive, potentially organic-rich asteroids. The OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa2 missions will map their target asteroids, Bennu and Ryugu, in detail and return regolith samples to Earth. Laboratory analyses of these pristine asteroid samples will provide unprecedented views of asteroidal organic matter relatively free of terrestrial contamination within well determined geological context. Studies of

Carbide-metal assemblages in a sample returned from asteroid 25143 Itokawa: Evidence for methane-rich fluids during metamorphism

Science.gov (United States)

Harries, Dennis; Langenhorst, Falko

2018-02-01

We found that the particle RA-QD02-0115 returned by the Hayabusa spacecraft from near-Earth asteroid 25143 Itokawa contains the iron carbide haxonite (Fe21.9-22.7Co0.2-0.3Ni0.2-0.8)C6 and several Fe,Ni alloys, including multi-domain tetrataenite and spinodally decomposed taenite. Ellipsoidal to nearly spherical voids occur throughout the particle and suggest the presence of a fluid phase during textural and chemical equilibration of the host rock within the parent asteroid of 25143 Itokawa. The calculated solubility of carbon in Fe,Ni metal indicates that the carbide formed at temperatures larger than 600 °C during thermal metamorphism of the LL-chondritic mineral assemblage. Haxonite formed metastably with respect to graphite and cohenite, probably due to its high degree of lattice match with neighboring taenite, a low cooling rate at peak metamorphic temperatures, and the hindered nucleation of graphite. Thermodynamic equilibrium calculations indicate that the fluid present was dry (H2O-poor) and dominated by methane. The reactive fluid most plausibly had an atomic H/C ratio of 4-5 and was derived from the reduction of macromolecular, insoluble organic matter (IOM) that initially co-accreted with water ice. The initial presence of water is a necessary assumption to provide sufficient hydrogen for the formation of methane from hydrolyzed IOM. Metallic iron was in turn partially oxidized and incorporated into the ferromagnesian silicates during the high-temperature stage of metamorphism. An exemplary bulk reaction from unequilibrated material on the left to an equilibrated assemblage on the right may be written as: 330 CH0.8O0.2(IOM) + 500 H2O(ice/g) + 681 Fe(in alloy) + 566 FeSiO3(in Opx) → 300 CH4(g) + 32 H2(g) + 5 Fe23C6(in Hx) + 566 Fe2SiO4(in Ol) (Opx = orthopyroxene, Hx = haxonite, Ol = olivine, g = fluid species). The best estimate of the fluid/rock ratio in the region of the LL parent body where RA-QD02-0115 formed is about 3 × 10-3 and corresponds to

Asteroid Composite Tape

Science.gov (United States)

1998-07-01

This is a composite tape showing 10 short segments primarily about asteroids. The segments have short introductory slides, which include brief descriptions about the shots. The segments are: (1) Radar movie of asteroid 1620 Geographos; (2) Animation of the trajectories of Toutatis and Earth (3) Animation of a landing on Toutatis; (4) Simulated encounter of an asteroid with Earth, includes a simulated impact trajectory; (5) An animated overview of the Manrover vehicle; (6) The Near Earth Asteroid Tracking project, includes a photograph of USAF Station in Hawaii, and animation of Earth approaching 4179 Toutatis and the asteroid Gaspara; (7) live video of the anchor tests of the Champoleon anchoring apparatus; (8) a second live video of the Champoleon anchor tests showing anchoring spikes, and collision rings; (9) An animated segment with narration about the Stardust mission with sound, which describes the mission to fly close to a comet, and capture cometary material for return to Earth; (10) live video of the drop test of a Stardust replica from a hot air balloon; this includes sound but is not narrated.

NEOCAM: Near Earth Object Chemical Analysis Mission: Bridging the Gulf between Telescopic Observations and the Chemical and Mineralogical Compositions of Asteroids or Diogenes A: Diagnostic Observation of the Geology of Near Earth Spectrally-Classified Asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Nuth, Joseph A.

2009-01-01

Studies of meteorites have yielded a wealth of scientific information based on highly detailed chemical and isotopic studies possible only in sophisticated terrestrial laboratories. Telescopic studies have revealed an enormous (greater than 10(exp 5)) number of physical objects ranging in size from a few tens of meters to several hundred kilometers, orbiting not only in the traditional asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter but also throughout the inner solar system. Many of the largest asteroids are classed into taxonomic groups based on their observed spectral properties and are designated as C, D. X, S or V types (as well as a wide range in sub-types). These objects are certainly the sources far the meteorites in our laboratories, but which asteroids are the sources for which meteorites? Spectral classes are nominally correlated to the chemical composition and physical characteristics of the asteroid itself based on studies of the spectral changes induced in meteorites due to exposure to a simulated space environment. While laboratory studies have produced some notable successes (e.g. the identification of the asteroid Vesta as the source of the H, E and D meteorite classes), it is unlikely that we have samples of each asteroidal spectral type in our meteorite collection. The correlation of spectral type and composition for many objects will therefore remain uncertain until we can return samples of specific asteroid types to Earth for analyses. The best candidates for sample return are asteroids that already come close to the Earth. Asteroids in orbit near 1 A.U. have been classified into three groups (Aten, Apollo & Amor) based on their orbital characteristics. These Near Earth Objects (NEOs) contain representatives of virtually all spectral types and sub-types of the asteroid population identified to date. Because of their close proximity to Earth, NEOs are prime targets for asteroid missions such as the NEAR-Shoemaker NASA Discovery Mission to Eros and the

Sustainable Mars Sample Return

Science.gov (United States)

Alston, Christie; Hancock, Sean; Laub, Joshua; Perry, Christopher; Ash, Robert

2011-01-01

The proposed Mars sample return mission will be completed using natural Martian resources for the majority of its operations. The system uses the following technologies: In-Situ Propellant Production (ISPP), a methane-oxygen propelled Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), a carbon dioxide powered hopper, and a hydrogen fueled balloon system (large balloons and small weather balloons). The ISPP system will produce the hydrogen, methane, and oxygen using a Sabatier reactor. a water electrolysis cell, water extracted from the Martian surface, and carbon dioxide extracted from the Martian atmosphere. Indigenous hydrogen will fuel the balloon systems and locally-derived methane and oxygen will fuel the MAV for the return of a 50 kg sample to Earth. The ISPP system will have a production cycle of 800 days and the estimated overall mission length is 1355 days from Earth departure to return to low Earth orbit. Combining these advanced technologies will enable the proposed sample return mission to be executed with reduced initial launch mass and thus be more cost efficient. The successful completion of this mission will serve as the next step in the advancement of Mars exploration technology.

The comet rendezvous asteroid flyby mission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morrison, D.; Neugebauer, M.; Weissman, P.R.

1989-01-01

The Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby (CRAF) mission is designed to answer the many questions raised by the Halley missions by exploring a cometary nucleus in detail, following it around its orbit and studying its changing activity as it moves closer to and then away from the Sun. In addition, on its way to rendezvous with the comet, CRAF will fly by a large, primitive class main belt asteroid and will return valuable data for comparison with the comet results. The selected asteroid is 449 Hamburga with a diameter of 88 km and a surface composition of carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. The expected flyby date is January, 1998. The CRAF spacecraft will continue to make measurements in orbit around the cometary nucleus as they both move closer to the Sun, until the dust and gas hazard becomes unsafe. At that point the spacecraft will move in and out between 50 and 2,500 kilometers to study the inner coma and the cometary ionosphere, and to collect dust and gas samples for onboard analysis. Following perihelion, the spacecraft will make a 50,000 km excursion down the comet's tail, further investigating the solar wind interaction with the cometary atmosphere. The spacecraft will return to the vicinity of the nucleus about four months after perihelion to observe the changes that have taken place. If the spacecraft remains healthy and adequate fuel is still onboard, an extended mission to follow the comet nucleus out to aphelion is anticipated

The Importance of Meteorite Collections to Sample Return Missions: Past, Present, and Future Considerations

Science.gov (United States)

Welzenbach, L. C.; McCoy, T. J.; Glavin, D. P.; Dworkin, J. P.; Abell, P. A.

2012-01-01

While much of the scientific community s current attention is drawn to sample return missions, it is the existing meteorite and cosmic dust collections that both provide the paradigms to be tested by these missions and the context for interpreting the results. Recent sample returns from the Stardust and Hayabusa missions provided us with new materials and insights about our Solar System history and processes. As an example, Stardust sampled CAIs among the population of cometary grains, requiring extensive and unexpected radial mixing in the early solar nebula. This finding would not have been possible, however, without extensive studies of meteoritic CAIs that established their high-temperature, inner Solar System formation. Samples returned by Stardust also revealed the first evidence of a cometary amino acid, a discovery that would not have been possible with current in situ flight instrument technology. The Hayabusa mission provided the final evidence linking ordinary chondrites and S asteroids, a hypothesis that developed from centuries of collection and laboratory and ground-based telescopic studies. In addition to these scientific findings, studies of existing meteorite collections have defined and refined the analytical techniques essential to studying returned samples. As an example, the fortuitous fall of the Allende CV3 and Murchison CM2 chondrites within months before the return of Apollo samples allowed testing of new state-of-the-art analytical facilities. The results of those studies not only prepared us to better study lunar materials, but unanticipated discoveries changed many of our concepts about the earliest history and processes of the solar nebula. This synergy between existing collections and future space exploration is certainly not limited to sample return missions. Laboratory studies confirmed the existence of meteorites from Mars and raised the provocative possibility of preservation of ancient microbial life. The laboratory studies in

Predictions of asteroid hazard to the Earth for the 21st century

Science.gov (United States)

Petrov, Nikita; Sokolov, Leonid; Polyakhova, Elena; Oskina, Kristina

2018-05-01

Early detection and investigation of possible collisions and close approaches of asteroids with the Earth are necessary to exept the asteroid-comet hazard. The difficulty of prediction of close approaches and collisions associated with resonant returns after encounters with the Earth due to loss of precision in these encounters. The main research object is asteroid Apophis (99942), for which we found many possible orbits of impacts associated with resonant returns. It is shown that the early orbit change of Apophis allows to avoid main impacts, associated with resonant returns. Such a change of the orbit, in principle, is feasible. We also study the possible impacts with the Ground asteroid 2015 RN35. We present 21 possible collisions in this century, including 7 collisions with large gaps presented in NASA website. The results of observations by the telescope ZA-320M at Pulkovo Obser-vatory of the three near-Earth asteroids, namely, 7822, 20826, 68216, two of which 7822 and 68216 are potentially hazardous, are presented.

Oxygen and Magnesium Isotopic Compositions of Asteroidal Materials Returned from Itokawa by the Hayabusa Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Yurimoto, H; Abe, M.; Ebihara, M.; Fujimura, A.; Hashizume, K.; Ireland, T. R.; Itoh, S.; Kawaguchi, K.; Kitajima, F.; Mukai, T.;

Comet coma sample return instrument

Science.gov (United States)

Albee, A. L.; Brownlee, Don E.; Burnett, Donald S.; Tsou, Peter; Uesugi, K. T.

1994-01-01

The sample collection technology and instrument concept for the Sample of Comet Coma Earth Return Mission (SOCCER) are described. The scientific goals of this Flyby Sample Return are to return to coma dust and volatile samples from a known comet source, which will permit accurate elemental and isotopic measurements for thousands of individual solid particles and volatiles, detailed analysis of the dust structure, morphology, and mineralogy of the intact samples, and identification of the biogenic elements or compounds in the solid and volatile samples. Having these intact samples, morphologic, petrographic, and phase structural features can be determined. Information on dust particle size, shape, and density can be ascertained by analyzing penetration holes and tracks in the capture medium. Time and spatial data of dust capture will provide understanding of the flux dynamics of the coma and the jets. Additional information will include the identification of cosmic ray tracks in the cometary grains, which can provide a particle's process history and perhaps even the age of the comet. The measurements will be made with the same equipment used for studying micrometeorites for decades past; hence, the results can be directly compared without extrapolation or modification. The data will provide a powerful and direct technique for comparing the cometary samples with all known types of meteorites and interplanetary dust. This sample collection system will provide the first sample return from a specifically identified primitive body and will allow, for the first time, a direct method of matching meteoritic materials captured on Earth with known parent bodies.

Human spaceflight and an asteroid redirect mission: Why?

Science.gov (United States)

Burchell, M. J.

2014-08-01

The planning of human spaceflight programmes is an exercise in careful rationing of a scarce and expensive resource. Current NASA plans are to develop the new capability for human-rated launch into space to replace the Space Transportation System (STS), more commonly known as the Space Shuttle, combined with a heavy lift capability, and followed by an eventual Mars mission. As an intermediate step towards Mars, NASA proposes to venture beyond Low Earth Orbit to cis-lunar space to visit a small asteroid which will be captured and moved to lunar orbit by a separate robotic mission. The rationale for this and how to garner support from the scientific community for such an asteroid mission are discussed. Key points that emerge are that a programme usually has greater legitimacy when it emerges from public debate, mostly via a Presidential Commission, a report by the National Research Council or a Decadal Review of science goals etc. Also, human spaceflight missions need to have support from a wide range of interested communities. Accordingly, an outline scientific case for a human visit to an asteroid is made. Further, it is argued here that the scientific interest in an asteroid mission needs to be included early in the planning stages, so that the appropriate capabilities (here the need for drilling cores and carrying equipment to, and returning samples from, the asteroid) can be included.

A Transmission Electron Microscope Investigation of Space Weathering Effects in Hayabusa Samples

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, Lindsay P.; Berger, Eve L.

2014-01-01

The Hayabusa mission to asteroid 25143 Itokawa successfully returned the first direct samples of the regolith from the surface of an asteroid. The Hayabusa samples thus present a special opportunity to directly investigate the evolution of asteroidal surfaces, from the development of the regolith to the study of the more complex effects of space weathering. Here we describe the mineralogy, microstructure and composition of three Hayabusa mission particles using transmission electron microscope (TEM) techniques

Working Group Reports and Presentations: Asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, John

2006-01-01

The study and utilization of asteroids will be an economical way to enable exploration of the solar system and extend human presence in space. There are thousands of near-earth objects (NEOs) that we will be able to reach. They offer resources, transportation, and exploration platforms, but also present a potential threat to civilization. Asteroids play a catastrophic role in the history of the Earth. Geological records indicate a regular history of massive impacts, which astronomical observations confirm is likely to continue with potentially devastating consequences. However, study and exploration of near earth asteroids can significantly increase advanced warning of an Earth impact, and potentially lead to the technology necessary to avert such a collision. Efforts to detect and prevent cataclysmic events would tend to foster and likely require international cooperation toward a unified goal of self-preservation. Exploration of asteroids will help us to understand our history and perhaps save our future. Besides the obvious and compelling scientific and security drivers for asteroid research and exploration, there are numerous engineering and industrial applications for near-term asteroid exploration. We have strong evidence that some asteroids are metal rich. Some are water and organic rich. They can be reached with a very low fuel cost compared to other solar system destinations. Once we reach them, there are efficient, simple extraction technologies available that would facilitate utilization. In addition, the costs of returning extracted resources from asteroids will be a fraction of the cost to return similar resources from the moon to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). These raw materials, extracted and shipped at relatively low cost, can be used to manufacture structures, fuel, and products which could be used to foster mankind s further exploration of the solar system. Asteroids also have the potential to offer transport to several destinations in the solar system

Ion Irradiation Experiments on the Murchison CM2 Carbonaceous Chondrite: Simulating Space Weathering of Primitive Asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, L. P.; Christoffersen, R.; Dukes, C. A.; Baragiola, R. A.; Rahman, Z.

2015-01-01

Remote sensing observations show that space weathering processes affect all airless bodies in the Solar System to some degree. Sample analyses and lab experiments provide insights into the chemical, spectroscopic and mineralogic effects of space weathering and aid in the interpretation of remote- sensing data. For example, analyses of particles returned from the S-type asteroid Itokawa by the Hayabusa mission revealed that space-weathering on that body was dominated by interactions with the solar wind acting on LL ordinary chondrite-like materials [1, 2]. Understanding and predicting how the surface regoliths of primitive carbonaceous asteroids respond to space weathering processes is important for future sample return missions (Hayabusa 2 and OSIRIS-REx) that are targeting objects of this type. Here, we report the results of our preliminary ion irradiation experiments on a hydrated carbonaceous chondrite with emphasis on microstructural and infrared spectral changes.

CM and CO chondrites: A common parent body or asteroidal neighbors? Insights from chondrule silicates

Science.gov (United States)

Schrader, Devin L.; Davidson, Jemma

2017-10-01

By investigating the petrology and chemical composition of type II (FeO-rich) chondrules in the Mighei-like carbonaceous (CM) chondrites we constrain their thermal histories and relationship to the Ornans-like carbonaceous (CO) chondrites. We identified FeO-rich relict grains in type II chondrules by their Fe/Mn ratios; their presence indicates chondrule recycling among type II chondrules. The majority of relict grains in type II chondrules are FeO-poor olivine grains. Consistent with previous studies, chemical similarities between CM and CO chondrite chondrules indicate that they had similar formation conditions and that their parent bodies probably formed in a common region within the protoplanetary disk. However, important differences such as mean chondrule size and the lower abundance of FeO-poor relicts in CM chondrite type II chondrules than in CO chondrites suggest CM and CO chondrules did not form together and they likely originate from distinct parent asteroids. Despite being aqueously altered, many CM chondrites contain pre-accretionary anhydrous minerals (i.e., olivine) that are among the least thermally metamorphosed materials in chondrites according to the Cr2O3 content of their ferroan olivine. The presence of these minimally altered pre-accretionary chondrule silicates suggests that samples to be returned from aqueously altered asteroids by the Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return missions, even highly hydrated, may contain silicates that can provide information about the pre-accretionary histories and conditions of asteroids Ryugu and Bennu, respectively.

Three dimensional modelling for the target asteroid of HAYABUSA

Science.gov (United States)

Demura, H.; Kobayashi, S.; Asada, N.; Hashimoto, T.; Saito, J.

Hayabusa program is the first sample return mission of Japan. This was launched at May 9 2003, and will arrive at the target asteroid 25143 Itokawa on June 2005. The spacecraft has three optical navigation cameras, which are two wide angle ones and a telescopic one. The telescope with a filter wheel was named AMICA (Asteroid Multiband Imaging CAmera). We are going to model a shape of the target asteroid by this telescope; expected resolution: 1m/pixel at 10 km in distanc, field of view: 5.7 squared degrees, MPP-type CCD with 1024 x 1000 pixels. Because size of the Hayabusa is about 1x1x1 m, our goal is shape modeling with about 1m in precision on the basis of a camera system with scanning by rotation of the asteroid. This image-based modeling requires sequential images via AMICA and a history of distance between the asteroid and Hayabusa provided by a Laser Range Finder. We established a system of hierarchically recursive search with sub-pixel matching of Ground Control Points, which are picked up with Susan Operator. The matched dataset is restored with a restriction of epipolar geometry, and the obtained a group of three dimensional points are converted to a polygon model with Delaunay Triangulation. The current status of our development for the shape modeling is displayed.

Asteroids IV

Science.gov (United States)

Michel, Patrick; DeMeo, Francesca E.; Bottke, William F.

. Asteroids, like planets, are driven by a great variety of both dynamical and physical mechanisms. In fact, images sent back by space missions show a collection of small worlds whose characteristics seem designed to overthrow our preconceived notions. Given their wide range of sizes and surface compositions, it is clear that many formed in very different places and at different times within the solar nebula. These characteristics make them an exciting challenge for researchers who crave complex problems. The return of samples from these bodies may ultimately be needed to provide us with solutions. In the book Asteroids IV, the editors and authors have taken major strides in the long journey toward a much deeper understanding of our fascinating planetary ancestors. This book reviews major advances in 43 chapters that have been written and reviewed by a team of more than 200 international authorities in asteroids. It is aimed to be as comprehensive as possible while also remaining accessible to students and researchers who are interested in learning about these small but nonetheless important worlds. We hope this volume will serve as a leading reference on the topic of asteroids for the decade to come. We are deeply indebted to the many authors and referees for their tremendous efforts in helping us create Asteroids IV. We also thank the members of the Asteroids IV scientific organizing committee for helping us shape the structure and content of the book. The conference associated with the book, "Asteroids Comets Meteors 2014" held June 30-July 4, 2014, in Helsinki, Finland, did an outstanding job of demonstrating how much progress we have made in the field over the last decade. We are extremely grateful to our host Karri Muinonnen and his team. The editors are also grateful to the Asteroids IV production staff, namely Renée Dotson and her colleagues at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, for their efforts, their invaluable assistance, and their enthusiasm; they made life as

Sample Handling Considerations for a Europa Sample Return Mission: An Overview

Science.gov (United States)

Fries, M. D.; Calaway, M. L.; Evans, C. A.; McCubbin, F. M.

2015-01-01

The intent of this abstract is to provide a basic overview of mission requirements for a generic Europan plume sample return mission, based on NASA Curation experience in NASA sample return missions ranging from Apollo to OSIRIS-REx. This should be useful for mission conception and early stage planning. We will break the mission down into Outbound and Return legs and discuss them separately.

Asteroid family dynamics in the inner main belt

Science.gov (United States)

Dykhuis, Melissa Joy

The inner main asteroid belt is an important source of near-Earth objects and terrestrial planet impactors; however, the dynamics and history of this region are challenging to understand, due to its high population density and the presence of multiple orbital resonances. This dissertation explores the properties of two of the most populous inner main belt family groups --- the Flora family and the Nysa-Polana complex --- investigating their memberships, ages, spin properties, collision dynamics, and range in orbital and reflectance parameters. Though diffuse, the family associated with asteroid (8) Flora dominates the inner main belt in terms of the extent of its members in orbital parameter space, resulting in its significant overlap with multiple neighboring families. This dissertation introduces a new method for membership determination (the core sample method) which enables the distinction of the Flora family from the background, permitting its further analysis. The Flora family is shown to have a signature in plots of semimajor axis vs. size consistent with that expected for a collisional family dispersed as a result of the Yarkovsky radiation effect. The family's age is determined from the Yarkovsky dispersion to be 950 My. Furthermore, a survey of the spin sense of 21 Flora-region asteroids, accomplished via a time-efficient modification of the epoch method for spin sense determination, confirms the single-collision Yarkovsky-dispersed model for the family's origin. The neighboring Nysa-Polana complex is the likely source region for many of the carbonaceous near-Earth asteroids, several of which are important targets for spacecraft reconnaissance and sample return missions. Family identification in the Nysa-Polana complex via the core sample method reveals two families associated with asteroid (135) Hertha, both with distinct age and reflectance properties. The larger of these two families demonstrates a correlation in semimajor axis and eccentricity

Optical properties of (162173) 1999 JU3: in preparation for the JAXA Hayabusa 2 sample return mission

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ishiguro, Masateru [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Gwanak, Seoul 151-742 (Korea, Republic of); Kuroda, Daisuke [Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Asakuchi, Okayama 719-0232 (Japan); Hasegawa, Sunao; Abe, Masanao; Yoshikawa, Makoto [Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210 (Japan); Kim, Myung-Jin [Department of Astronomy, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-749 (Korea, Republic of); Choi, Young-Jun [Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, 776 Daedeokdae-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-348 (Korea, Republic of); Moskovitz, Nicholas [Lowell Observatory, 1400 W. Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001 (United States); Abe, Shinsuke [Department of Aerospace Engineering, Nihon University, 7-24-1 Narashinodai Funabashi, Chiba 274-8501 (Japan); Pan, Kang-Sian [Institute of Astronomy, National Central University, 300 Jhongda Road, Jhongli, Taoyuan 32001, Taiwan (China); Takahashi, Jun; Takagi, Yuhei; Arai, Akira [Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory, Center for Astronomy, University of Hyogo, Sayo, Hyogo 679-5313 (Japan); Tokimasa, Noritaka [Sayo Town Office, 2611-1 Sayo, Sayo-cho, Sayo, Hyogo 679-5380 (Japan); Hsieh, Henry H. [Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (China); Thomas-Osip, Joanna E.; Osip, David J. [The Observatories of the Carnegie Institute of Washington, Las Campanas Observatory, Colina El Pino, Casilla 601, La Serena (Chile); Urakawa, Seitaro [Bisei Spaceguard Center, Japan Spaceguard Association, 1716-3 Okura, Bisei-cho, Ibara, Okayama 714-1411 (Japan); Hanayama, Hidekazu [Ishigakijima Astronomical Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 1024-1 Arakawa, Ishigaki, Okinawa 907-0024 (Japan); Sekiguchi, Tomohiko [Department of Teacher Training, Hokkaido University of Education, 9 Hokumon, Asahikawa 070-8621 (Japan); and others

2014-09-01

We investigated the magnitude-phase relation of (162173) 1999 JU3, a target asteroid for the JAXA Hayabusa 2 sample return mission. We initially employed the International Astronomical Union's H-G formalism but found that it fits less well using a single set of parameters. To improve the inadequate fit, we employed two photometric functions: the Shevchenko and Hapke functions. With the Shevchenko function, we found that the magnitude-phase relation exhibits linear behavior in a wide phase angle range (α = 5°-75°) and shows weak nonlinear opposition brightening at α < 5°, providing a more reliable absolute magnitude of H {sub V} = 19.25 ± 0.03. The phase slope (0.039 ± 0.001 mag deg{sup –1}) and opposition effect amplitude (parameterized by the ratio of intensity at α = 0.°3 to that at α = 5°, I(0.°3)/I(5°) = 1.31 ± 0.05) are consistent with those of typical C-type asteroids. We also attempted to determine the parameters for the Hapke model, which are applicable for constructing the surface reflectance map with the Hayabusa 2 onboard cameras. Although we could not constrain the full set of Hapke parameters, we obtained possible values, w = 0.041, g = –0.38, B {sub 0} = 1.43, and h = 0.050, assuming a surface roughness parameter θ-bar = 20°. By combining our photometric study with a thermal model of the asteroid, we obtained a geometric albedo of p {sub v} = 0.047 ± 0.003, phase integral q = 0.32 ± 0.03, and Bond albedo A {sub B} = 0.014 ± 0.002, which are commensurate with the values for common C-type asteroids.

Optical properties of (162173) 1999 JU3: in preparation for the JAXA Hayabusa 2 sample return mission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishiguro, Masateru; Kuroda, Daisuke; Hasegawa, Sunao; Abe, Masanao; Yoshikawa, Makoto; Kim, Myung-Jin; Choi, Young-Jun; Moskovitz, Nicholas; Abe, Shinsuke; Pan, Kang-Sian; Takahashi, Jun; Takagi, Yuhei; Arai, Akira; Tokimasa, Noritaka; Hsieh, Henry H.; Thomas-Osip, Joanna E.; Osip, David J.; Urakawa, Seitaro; Hanayama, Hidekazu; Sekiguchi, Tomohiko

2014-01-01

We investigated the magnitude-phase relation of (162173) 1999 JU3, a target asteroid for the JAXA Hayabusa 2 sample return mission. We initially employed the International Astronomical Union's H-G formalism but found that it fits less well using a single set of parameters. To improve the inadequate fit, we employed two photometric functions: the Shevchenko and Hapke functions. With the Shevchenko function, we found that the magnitude-phase relation exhibits linear behavior in a wide phase angle range (α = 5°-75°) and shows weak nonlinear opposition brightening at α < 5°, providing a more reliable absolute magnitude of H V = 19.25 ± 0.03. The phase slope (0.039 ± 0.001 mag deg –1 ) and opposition effect amplitude (parameterized by the ratio of intensity at α = 0.°3 to that at α = 5°, I(0.°3)/I(5°) = 1.31 ± 0.05) are consistent with those of typical C-type asteroids. We also attempted to determine the parameters for the Hapke model, which are applicable for constructing the surface reflectance map with the Hayabusa 2 onboard cameras. Although we could not constrain the full set of Hapke parameters, we obtained possible values, w = 0.041, g = –0.38, B 0 = 1.43, and h = 0.050, assuming a surface roughness parameter θ-bar = 20°. By combining our photometric study with a thermal model of the asteroid, we obtained a geometric albedo of p v = 0.047 ± 0.003, phase integral q = 0.32 ± 0.03, and Bond albedo A B = 0.014 ± 0.002, which are commensurate with the values for common C-type asteroids.

Guided asteroid deflection by kinetic impact: Mapping keyholes to an asteroid's surface

Science.gov (United States)

Chesley, S.; Farnocchia, D.

2014-07-01

range from around 1 for a porous, compressible body producing negligible ejecta, to 2 when the ejecta momentum matches the spacecraft momentum, and as high as 5--10 for rocky bodies that produce large, high-velocity ejecta fragments. If the impactor hits the centerpoint of a spherical asteroid the momentum of the escaping ejecta directly adds to the momentum of the impacting asteroid, but if the impact is oblique then the ejecta and spacecraft momenta are added to the asteroid in vector sum. This suggests the possibility that for a given intercept trajectory the asteroid deflection could include guidance by targeting an oblique impact that could steer the asteroid Δ V to a more optimal direction that is different from the relative velocity direction of the spacecraft. An oblique impact decreases the net Δ V magnitude, and yet could significantly increase the net deflection at the time of the threatening Earth encounter. We use asteroid (101955) Bennu, which is the target of the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission and which has a series of potential Earth impacts in the years from 2175--2196, as an example to demonstrate the effectiveness of the oblique impact. These future potential impacts will occur if the asteroid passes through one of a series of keyholes when the asteroid passes the Earth at roughly the lunar distance from the Earth in 2135. To study the Bennu deflection problem we simulate a hypervelocity spacecraft impact on Bennu in March 2021, after the OSIRIS-REx mission is complete. In our example, the spacecraft arrives from approximately the sunward direction, and targeting ahead or behind the center of the asteroid allows non-negligible transverse accelerations for modest values of β. A given impact location on the asteroid surface yields a given Δ V vector, and our approach starts by mapping the net Δ V components on the surface for an assumed value of β. Knowing the mapping from impact location to Δ V and also the mapping from Δ V to the

Asteroid results from the IRAS survey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Veeder, G.J.; Tedesco, E.F.; Matson, D.L.

1989-01-01

This paper reports that the IRAS Asteroid and Comet Survey yield a data base of infrared flux densities for 1811 individual asteroids. Albedos and diameters for these have been derived via a standard thermal model. IRAS sampled a large number of small asteroids and detected many dark asteroids in the outer belt. High-albedo asteroids remain rare. Observations of the brighter asteroids at multiple wavelengths shows the expected range of color temperatures through the main belt

On the cutting edge technology enabling the challenging missions to asteroids and comets, our primitive neighbors

Science.gov (United States)

Kawaguchi, J.

2014-07-01

The world's first sample-and-return mission from an object orbiting outside the sphere of influence of the Earth was successfully performed through Hayabusa in 2010, an engineering demonstration mission of JAXA. And it was followed by another technology demonstrator, Ikaros, the world's first solar-sail mission launched in 2010, the same year of the Hayabusa return. These two demonstrations represent the significance of the technology development that shall precede the real science missions that will follow. The space-exploration community focuses its attention on the use of asteroids and comets as one of the most immediate destinations. Humans will perform voyages to those objects sooner or later. And we will initiate a kind of research as scientific activity for those objects. The missions may include even sample-and-return missions to those bodies for assessing the chance of possible resource utilization in future. The first step for it is, needless to say, science. Combining the sample-and-return technology using the ultra-high-speed reentry for sample recovery with the new propulsion system using both electric and photon force will be the direct conclusion from Hayabusa and Ikaros. And key elements such as autonomy are also among the essential factors in making the sophisticated operation possible around asteroids and comets avoiding the communication difficulty. This presentation will comprehensively touch on what those technology skills are, and how they are applicable to the subsequent new missions, from the mission leader's point of view. They are probably real requisites for planning brand-new innovative challenges in the ACM community.

The Main Asteroid Belt: The Crossroads of the Solar System

Science.gov (United States)

Michel, Patrick

2015-08-01

Orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, main belt asteroids are leftover planetary building blocks that never accreted enough material to become planets. They are therefore keys to understanding how the Solar System formed and evolved. They may also provide clues to the origin of life, as similar bodies may have delivered organics and water to the early Earth.Strong associations between asteroids and meteorites emerged thanks to multi-technique observations, modeling, in situ and sample return analyses. Spacecraft images revolutionized our knowledge of these small worlds. Asteroids are stunning in their diversity in terms of physical properties. Their gravity varies by more orders of magnitude than its variation among the terrestrial planets, including the Moon. Each rendezvous with an asteroid thus turned our geological understanding on its head as each asteroid is affected in different ways by a variety of processes such as landslides, faulting, and impact cratering. Composition also varies, from ice-rich to lunar-like to chondritic.Nearly every asteroid we see today, whether of primitive or evolved compositions, is the product of a complex history involving accretion and one or more episodes of catastrophic disruption that sometimes resulted in families of smaller asteroids that have distinct and indicative petrogenic relationships. These families provide the best data to study the impact disruption process at scales far larger than those accessible in laboratory. Tens, perhaps hundreds, of early asteroids grew large enough to thermally differentiate. Their traces are scattered pieces of their metal-rich cores and, more rarely, their mantles and crusts.Asteroids represent stages on the rocky road to planet formation. They have great stories to tell about the formation and evolution of our Solar System as well as other planetary systems: asteroid belts seem common around Sun-like stars. We will review our current knowledge on their properties, their link to

Rotational Characterization of Hayabusa II Target Asteroid (162173) 1999 JU3

OpenAIRE

Moskovitz, Nicholas; Abe, Shinsuke; Pan, Kang-Shian; Osip, David; Pefkou, Dimitra; Melita, Mario; Elias, Mauro; Kitazato, Kohei; Bus, Schelte; DeMeo, Francesca; Binzel, Richard; Abell, Paul

2013-01-01

The Japanese Space Agency's Hayabusa II mission is scheduled to rendezvous with and return a sample from the near-Earth asteroid (162173) 1999 JU3. Previous visible-wavelength spectra of this object show significant variability across multiple epochs which could be the result of a compositionally heterogeneous surface. We present new visible and near-infrared spectra to demonstrate that thermally altered carbonaceous chondrites are plausible compositional analogs, however this is a tentative ...

A Cubesat Asteroid Mission: Propulsion Trade-offs

Science.gov (United States)

Landis, Geoffrey A.; Oleson, Steven R.; McGuire, Melissa L.; Bur, Michael J.; Burke, Laura M.; Fittje, James E.; Kohout, Lisa L.; Fincannon, James; Packard, Thomas W.; Martini, Michael C.

2014-01-01

A conceptual design was performed for a 6-U cubesat for a technology demonstration to be launched on the NASA Space Launch System (SLS) test launch EM-1, to be launched into a free-return translunar trajectory. The mission purpose was to demonstrate use of electric propulsion systems on a small satellite platform. The candidate objective chosen was a mission to visit a Near-Earth asteroid. Both asteroid fly-by and asteroid rendezvous missions were analyzed. Propulsion systems analyzed included cold-gas thruster systems, Hall and ion thrusters, incorporating either Xenon or Iodine propellant, and an electrospray thruster. The mission takes advantage of the ability of the SLS launch to place it into an initial trajectory of C3=0.

Applications of granular-dynamics numerical simulations to asteroid surfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, D. C.; Michel, P.; Schwartz, S. R.; Yu, Y.; Ballouz, R.-L.; Matsumura, S.

2014-07-01

Spacecraft images and indirect observations including thermal inertia measurements indicate most small bodies have surface regolith. Evidence of granular flow is also apparent in the images. This material motion occurs in very low gravity, therefore in a totally different gravitational environment than on the Earth. Upcoming sample-return missions to small bodies, and possible future manned missions, will involve interaction with the surface regolith, so it is important to develop tools to predict the surface response. We have added new capabilities to the N-body gravity tree code pkdgrav [1,2] that permit the simulation of granular dynamics, including multi-contact physics and friction forces, using the soft-sphere discrete-element method [3]. The numerical approach has been validated through comparison with laboratory experiments (e.g., [3,4]). (1) We carried out impacts into granular materials using different projectile shapes under Earth's gravity [5] and compared the results to laboratory experiments [6] in support of JAXA's Hayabusa 2 asteroid sample-return mission. We tested different projectile shapes and confirmed that the 90-degree cone was the most efficient at excavating mass when impacting 5-mm-diameter glass beads. Results are sensitive to the normal coefficient of restitution and the coefficient of static friction. Preliminary experiments in micro-gravity for similar impact conditions show both the amount of ejected mass and the timescale of the impact process increase, as expected. (2) It has been found (e.g., [7,8]) that ''fresh'' (unreddened) Q-class asteroids have a high probability of recent planetary encounters (˜1 Myr; also see [9]), suggesting that surface refreshening may have occurred due to tidal effects. As an application of the potential effect of tidal interactions, we carried out simulations of Apophis' predicted 2029 encounter with the Earth to see whether regolith motion might occur, using a range of plausible material parameters

Samples of Asteroid Surface Ponded Deposits in Chondritic Meteorites

Science.gov (United States)

Zolensky, M. E.; Lee, R.; Le, L.

2004-01-01

One of the many unexpected observations of asteroid 433 Eros by the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission was the many ponds of fine-grained materials [1-3]. The ponds have smooth surfaces, and define equipotential surfaces up to 10's of meters in diameter [4]. The ponds have a uniformly sub-cm grain size and appear to be cohesive or indurated to some degree, as revealed by slumping. The ponds appear to be concentrated within 30 degrees of the equator of Eros, where gravity is lowest. There is some insight into the mineralogy and composition of the ponds surfaces from NEAR spectroscopy [2,4,5,6]. Compared to the bulk asteroid, ponds: (1) are distinctly bluer (high 550/760 nm ratio), (2) have a deeper 1um mafic band, (3) have reflectance elevated by 5%.

Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission: Robotic Boulder Capture Option Overview

Science.gov (United States)

Mazanek, Daniel D.; Merrill, Raymond G.; Belbin, Scott P.; Reeves, David M.; Earle, Kevin D.; Naasz, Bo J.; Abell, Paul A.

2014-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is currently studying an option for the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM) that would capture a multi-ton boulder (typically 2-4 meters in size) from the surface of a large (is approximately 100+ meter) Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) and return it to cislunar space for subsequent human and robotic exploration. This alternative mission approach, designated the Robotic Boulder Capture Option (Option B), has been investigated to determine the mission feasibility and identify potential differences from the initial ARRM concept of capturing an entire small NEA (4-10 meters in size), which has been designated the Small Asteroid Capture Option (Option A). Compared to the initial ARRM concept, Option B allows for centimeter-level characterization over an entire large NEA, the certainty of target NEA composition type, the ability to select the boulder that is captured, numerous opportunities for mission enhancements to support science objectives, additional experience operating at a low-gravity planetary body including extended surface contact, and the ability to demonstrate future planetary defense strategies on a hazardous-size NEA. Option B can leverage precursor missions and existing Agency capabilities to help ensure mission success by targeting wellcharacterized asteroids and can accommodate uncertain programmatic schedules by tailoring the return mass.

Science Experiments of a Jupiter Trojan asteroid in the Solar Power Sail Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Okada, T.; Kebukawa, Y.; Aoki, J.; Kawai, Y.; Ito, M.; Yano, H.; Okamoto, C.; Matsumoto, J.; Bibring, J. P.; Ulamec, S.; Jaumann, R.; Iwata, T.; Mori, O.; Kawaguchi, J.

2017-12-01

A Jupiter Trojan asteroid mission using a large area solar power sail (SPS) is under study in JAXA in collaboration with DLR and CNES. The asteroid will be investigated through remote sensing, followed by in situ in-depth observations on the asteroid with a lander. A sample-return is also studied as an option. LUCY has been selected as the NASA's future Discovery class mission which aims at understanding the diversity of Jupiter Trojans by multiple flybys, complementally to the SPS mission. The SPS is a candidate of the next medium class space science mission in Japan. The 1.4-ton spacecraft will carry a 100-kg class lander and 20-kg mission payloads on it. Its launch is expected in mid 2020s, and will take at least 11 years to visit a Jupiter Trojan asteroid. During the cruise phase, science experiments will be performed such as an infrared astronomy, a very long baseline gamma ray interferometry, and dust and magnetic field measurements. A classical static model of solar system suggests that the Jupiter Trojans were formed around the Jupiter region, while a dynamical model such as Nice model indicates that they formed at the far end of the solar system and then scattered inward due to a dynamical migration of giant planets. The physical, mineralogical, organics and isotopic distribution in the heliocentric distance could solve their origin and evolution of the solar system. A global mapping of the asteroid from the mothership will be conducted such as high-resolved imaging, NIR and TIR imaging spectrometry, and radar soundings. The lander will characterize the asteroid with geological, mineralogical, and geophysical observations using a panoramic camera, an infrared hyperspectral imager, a magnetometer, and a thermal radiometer. These samples will be measured by a high resolved mass spectrometer (HRMS) to investigate isotopic ratios of hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, as well as organic species.

I. T. - R. O. C. K. S. Comet Nuclei Sample Return Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Dalcher, N.

2009-04-01

samples will be performed by touch and go manoeuvres and a penetrator device [10]. Solar arrays are used as energy source and additional cooling is required to keep the samples at low temperatures (Lisse C., Schultz P., Meech K. J., Delamere W. A. Icarus 187,4-15 (2007). [4] Simon S.B., Joswiak D.J., Ishii H.A., Bradley J.P., Chi M., Grossman L., Aléon J., Brownlee D.E., Fallon S., Hutcheon I.D., Matrajt G., Mckeegan K.D.: Refractory Inclusion Returned by Stardust from Comet P81/Wild 2. Meteoritics and Planetary Science (2007). [5] George D. Cody, Harald Ade, Conel M. O'D. Alexander, Tohru Araki, Anna Butterworth, Holger Fleckenstein, George Flynn, Mary K. Gilles, Chris Jacobsen, A.L. D. Kilcoyne, Keiko Messenger, Scott A. Sandford, Tolek Tyliszczak, Andrew J.Westphal4, Susan Wirick, and Hikaru Yabuta. Quantitative Organic and Light Element analysis of Comet 81P/Wild 2 particles using C-, N-, and O- µ-XANES, Meteoretics and Planetary Science: In Press. [6] Stern, S. et al. Alice: The Rosetta Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph. Space Science Reviews 128, 507-527 (2007). [7] Balsiger, H. et al. Rosina-Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis. Space Science Reviews 128, 745-801 (2007). [8] Colangeli, L. et al. The Grain Impact Analyser and Dust Accumulator (GIADA) Experiment for the Rosetta Mission: Design, Performances and First Results. Space Science Reviews 128, 803-821 (2007). [9] Yoshimitsu, T., Kubota, T., Nakatani, I., Adachi, T. & Saito, H. Micro-hopping robot for asteroid exploration. Acta Astronautica 52, 441-446 (2003). [10] Lorenz, R. et al. Demonstration of comet sample collection by penetrator. ESA SP-542, 387-393 (2003). [11] Küppers et al. Triple F—a comet nucleus sample return mission. Experimental Astronomy, Online First (2008).

Triple F - A Comet Nucleus Sample Return Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Kueppers, Michael; Keller, Horst Uwe; Kuhrt, Ekkehard; A'Hearn, Michael; Altwegg, Kathrin; Betrand, Regis; Busemann, Henner; Capria, Maria Teresa; Colangeli, Luigi

2008-01-01

The Triple F (Fresh From the Fridge) mission, a Comet Nucleus Sample Return, has been proposed to ESA s Cosmic Vision program. A sample return from a comet enables us to reach the ultimate goal of cometary research. Since comets are the least processed bodies in the solar system, the proposal goes far beyond cometary science topics (like the explanation of cometary activity) and delivers invaluable information about the formation of the solar system and the interstellar molecular cloud from which it formed. The proposed mission would extract three samples of the upper 50 cm from three locations on a cometary nucleus and return them cooled to Earth for analysis in the laboratory. The simple mission concept with a touch-and-go sampling by a single spacecraft was proposed as an M-class mission in collaboration with the Russian space agency ROSCOSMOS.

A Method for Choosing the Best Samples for Mars Sample Return.

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon, Peter R; Sephton, Mark A

2018-05-01

Success of a future Mars Sample Return mission will depend on the correct choice of samples. Pyrolysis-FTIR can be employed as a triage instrument for Mars Sample Return. The technique can thermally dissociate minerals and organic matter for detection. Identification of certain mineral types can determine the habitability of the depositional environment, past or present, while detection of organic matter may suggest past or present habitation. In Mars' history, the Theiikian era represents an attractive target for life search missions and the acquisition of samples. The acidic and increasingly dry Theiikian may have been habitable and followed a lengthy neutral and wet period in Mars' history during which life could have originated and proliferated to achieve relatively abundant levels of biomass with a wide distribution. Moreover, the sulfate minerals produced in the Theiikian are also known to be good preservers of organic matter. We have used pyrolysis-FTIR and samples from a Mars analog ferrous acid stream with a thriving ecosystem to test the triage concept. Pyrolysis-FTIR identified those samples with the greatest probability of habitability and habitation. A three-tier scoring system was developed based on the detection of (i) organic signals, (ii) carbon dioxide and water, and (iii) sulfur dioxide. The presence of each component was given a score of A, B, or C depending on whether the substance had been detected, tentatively detected, or not detected, respectively. Single-step (for greatest possible sensitivity) or multistep (for more diagnostic data) pyrolysis-FTIR methods informed the assignments. The system allowed the highest-priority samples to be categorized as AAA (or A*AA if the organic signal was complex), while the lowest-priority samples could be categorized as CCC. Our methods provide a mechanism with which to rank samples and identify those that should take the highest priority for return to Earth during a Mars Sample Return mission. Key Words

Low Cost Mars Sample Return Utilizing Dragon Lander Project

Science.gov (United States)

Stoker, Carol R.

2014-01-01

We studied a Mars sample return (MSR) mission that lands a SpaceX Dragon Capsule on Mars carrying sample collection hardware (an arm, drill, or small rover) and a spacecraft stack consisting of a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) and Earth Return Vehicle (ERV) that collectively carry the sample container from Mars back to Earth orbit.

An Efficient Approach for Mars Sample Return Using Emerging Commercial Capabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzales, Andrew A; Stoker, Carol R

2016-06-01

Mars Sample Return is the highest priority science mission for the next decade as recommended by the 2011 Decadal Survey of Planetary Science [1]. This article presents the results of a feasibility study for a Mars Sample Return mission that efficiently uses emerging commercial capabilities expected to be available in the near future. The motivation of our study was the recognition that emerging commercial capabilities might be used to perform Mars Sample Return with an Earth-direct architecture, and that this may offer a desirable simpler and lower cost approach. The objective of the study was to determine whether these capabilities can be used to optimize the number of mission systems and launches required to return the samples, with the goal of achieving the desired simplicity. All of the major element required for the Mars Sample Return mission are described. Mission system elements were analyzed with either direct techniques or by using parametric mass estimating relationships. The analysis shows the feasibility of a complete and closed Mars Sample Return mission design based on the following scenario: A SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch vehicle places a modified version of a SpaceX Dragon capsule, referred to as "Red Dragon", onto a Trans Mars Injection trajectory. The capsule carries all the hardware needed to return to Earth Orbit samples collected by a prior mission, such as the planned NASA Mars 2020 sample collection rover. The payload includes a fully fueled Mars Ascent Vehicle; a fueled Earth Return Vehicle, support equipment, and a mechanism to transfer samples from the sample cache system onboard the rover to the Earth Return Vehicle. The Red Dragon descends to land on the surface of Mars using Supersonic Retropropulsion. After collected samples are transferred to the Earth Return Vehicle, the single-stage Mars Ascent Vehicle launches the Earth Return Vehicle from the surface of Mars to a Mars phasing orbit. After a brief phasing period, the Earth Return

Paleomagnetic Studies of Returned Samples from Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Weiss, B. P.; Beaty, D. W.; McSween, H. Y.; Carrier, B. L.; Czaja, A. D.; Goreva, Y. S.; Hausrath, E.; Herd, C. D. K.; Humayun, M.; McCubbin, F. M.; McLennan, S. M.; Pratt, L. M.; Sephton, M. A.; Steele, A.

2018-04-01

Magnetic measurements of returned samples could transform our understanding of the martian dynamo and its connection to climatic and planetary thermal evolution and provide powerful constraints on the preservation state of sample biosignatures.

Mars Sample Return: The Next Step Required to Revolutionize Knowledge of Martian Geological and Climatological History

Science.gov (United States)

Mittlefehldt, D. W.

2012-01-01

sediments derived from an extensive region of Mars can provide important, detailed understanding of early martian geological and climatological history. Interrogating clastic "sediments" from the Earth, Moon and asteroids has allowed discovery of new crustal units, identification of now-vanished crust, and determination of the geological history of extensive, remote regions. Returned sample of martian fluvial and/or aeolian sediments, for example from Gale crater, could be "read like a book" in terrestrial laboratories to provide truly revolutionary new insights into early martian geological and climatological evolution.

Modeling and experimental validation of sawing based lander anchoring and sampling methods for asteroid exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jun; Dong, Chengcheng; Zhang, Hui; Li, Song; Song, Aiguo

2018-05-01

This paper presents a novel lander anchoring system based on sawing method for asteroid exploration. The system is composed of three robotic arms, three cutting discs, and a control system. The discs mounted at the end of the arms are able to penetrate into the rock surface of asteroids. After the discs cut into the rock surface, the self-locking function of the arms provides forces to fix the lander on the surface. Modeling, trajectory planning, simulations, mechanism design, and prototype fabrication of the anchoring system are discussed, respectively. The performances of the system are tested on different kinds of rocks, at different sawing angles, locations, and speeds. Results show that the system can cut 15 mm deep into granite rock in 180 s at sawing angle of 60°, with the average power of 58.41 W, and the "weight on bit" (WOB) of 8.637 N. The 7.8 kg anchoring system is capable of providing omni-directional anchoring forces, at least 225 N normal and 157 N tangent to the surface of the rock. The system has the advantages of low-weight, low energy consumption and balance forces, high anchoring efficiency and reliability, and could enable the lander to move and sample or assist astronauts and robots in walking and sampling on asteroids.

Asteroid clusters similar to asteroid pairs

Science.gov (United States)

Pravec, P.; Fatka, P.; Vokrouhlický, D.; Scheeres, D. J.; Kušnirák, P.; Hornoch, K.; Galád, A.; Vraštil, J.; Pray, D. P.; Krugly, Yu. N.; Gaftonyuk, N. M.; Inasaridze, R. Ya.; Ayvazian, V. R.; Kvaratskhelia, O. I.; Zhuzhunadze, V. T.; Husárik, M.; Cooney, W. R.; Gross, J.; Terrell, D.; Világi, J.; Kornoš, L.; Gajdoš, Š.; Burkhonov, O.; Ehgamberdiev, Sh. A.; Donchev, Z.; Borisov, G.; Bonev, T.; Rumyantsev, V. V.; Molotov, I. E.

2018-04-01

We studied the membership, size ratio and rotational properties of 13 asteroid clusters consisting of between 3 and 19 known members that are on similar heliocentric orbits. By backward integrations of their orbits, we confirmed their cluster membership and estimated times elapsed since separation of the secondaries (the smaller cluster members) from the primary (i.e., cluster age) that are between 105 and a few 106 years. We ran photometric observations for all the cluster primaries and a sample of secondaries and we derived their accurate absolute magnitudes and rotation periods. We found that 11 of the 13 clusters follow the same trend of primary rotation period vs mass ratio as asteroid pairs that was revealed by Pravec et al. (2010). We generalized the model of the post-fission system for asteroid pairs by Pravec et al. (2010) to a system of N components formed by rotational fission and we found excellent agreement between the data for the 11 asteroid clusters and the prediction from the theory of their formation by rotational fission. The two exceptions are the high-mass ratio (q > 0.7) clusters of (18777) Hobson and (22280) Mandragora for which a different formation mechanism is needed. Two candidate mechanisms for formation of more than one secondary by rotational fission were published: the secondary fission process proposed by Jacobson and Scheeres (2011) and a cratering collision event onto a nearly critically rotating primary proposed by Vokrouhlický et al. (2017). It will have to be revealed from future studies which of the clusters were formed by one or the other process. To that point, we found certain further interesting properties and features of the asteroid clusters that place constraints on the theories of their formation, among them the most intriguing being the possibility of a cascade disruption for some of the clusters.

Asteroids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bell, J.F.; Gaffey, M.J.

1989-01-01

During the past 15 yr much progress has been made in the study of the asteroids with optical, infrared, and radar telescopes. Simultaneously a vast body of petrologic, chemical and isotopic data has been acquired for meteorites, which are actual samples of asteroids. This work has demonstrated that asteroids vary widely in composition and thermal history in a systematic but complex way with orbital position and size. The authors report that it appears that these variations can be explained to first order by a simple model invoking three principal mechanisms: condensation of various known and unknown classes of chondritic material at radial locations in the nebula controlled by the temperature and composition; intense metamorphic heating after accretion which declined rapidly with both increasing solar distance and smaller planetesimal size, producing complete differentiation in some inner belt objects, incomplete differentiation in many more, and extensive metamorphism and aqueous alteration in middle-belt objects; and complex collisional fragmentation often controlled by internal strength gradients due to irregular distribution of metal

Sample Return Systems for Extreme Environments

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — In Phase I we were able to demonstrate that sample return missions utilizing high velocity penetrators (0.1- 1 km/s) could provide substantial new capabilities for...

Sensitivity of Asteroid Impact Risk to Uncertainty in Asteroid Properties and Entry Parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Wheeler, Lorien; Mathias, Donovan; Dotson, Jessie L.; NASA Asteroid Threat Assessment Project

2017-10-01

A central challenge in assessing the threat posed by asteroids striking Earth is the large amount of uncertainty inherent throughout all aspects of the problem. Many asteroid properties are not well characterized and can range widely from strong, dense, monolithic irons to loosely bound, highly porous rubble piles. Even for an object of known properties, the specific entry velocity, angle, and impact location can swing the potential consequence from no damage to causing millions of casualties. Due to the extreme rarity of large asteroid strikes, there are also large uncertainties in how different types of asteroids will interact with the atmosphere during entry, how readily they may break up or ablate, and how much surface damage will be caused by the resulting airbursts or impacts.In this work, we use our Probabilistic Asteroid Impact Risk (PAIR) model to investigate the sensitivity of asteroid impact damage to uncertainties in key asteroid properties, entry parameters, or modeling assumptions. The PAIR model combines physics-based analytic models of asteroid entry and damage in a probabilistic Monte Carlo framework to assess the risk posed by a wide range of potential impacts. The model samples from uncertainty distributions of asteroid properties and entry parameters to generate millions of specific impact cases, and models the atmospheric entry and damage for each case, including blast overpressure, thermal radiation, tsunami inundation, and global effects. To assess the risk sensitivity, we alternately fix and vary the different input parameters and compare the effect on the resulting range of damage produced. The goal of these studies is to help guide future efforts in asteroid characterization and model refinement by determining which properties most significantly affect the potential risk.

Asteroid Kinetic Impactor Missions

Science.gov (United States)

Chesley, Steven

2015-08-01

Asteroid impact missions can be carried out as a relatively low-cost add-ons to most asteroid rendezvous missions and such impact experiments have tremendous potential, both scientifically and in the arena of planetary defense.The science returns from an impactor demonstration begin with the documentation of the global effects of the impact, such as changes in orbit and rotation state, the creation and dissipation of an ejecta plume and debris disk, and morphological changes across the body due to the transmission of seismic waves, which might induce landslides and toppling of boulders, etc. At a local level, an inspection of the impact crater and ejecta blanket reveals critical material strength information, as well as spectral differences between the surface and subsurface material.From the planetary defense perspective, an impact demonstration will prove humankind’s capacity to alter the orbit of a potentially threatening asteroid. This technological leap comes in two parts. First, terminal guidance systems that can deliver an impactor with small errors relative to the ~100-200 meter size of a likely impactor have yet to be demonstrated in a deep space environment. Second, the response of an asteroid to such an impact is only understood theoretically due to the potentially significant dependence on the momentum carried by escaping ejecta, which would tend to enhance the deflection by tens of percent and perhaps as much as a factor of a few. A lack of validated understanding of momentum enhancement is a significant obstacle in properly sizing a real-world impactor deflection mission.This presentation will describe the drivers for asteroid impact demonstrations and cover the range of such concepts, starting with ESA’s pioneering Don Quijote mission concept and leading to a brief description of concepts under study at the present time, including the OSIRIS-REx/ISIS, BASiX/KIX and AIM/DART (AIDA) concepts.

Sample Return Systems for Extreme Environments

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The proposed work seeks to design, develop and test a hard impact penetrator/sampler that can withstand the hard impact and enable the sample to be returned to...

Mars Sample Return Landed with Red Dragon

Science.gov (United States)

Stoker, Carol R.; Lemke, Lawrence G.

2013-01-01

A Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission is the highest priority science mission for the next decade as recommended by the recent Decadal Survey of Planetary Science. However, an affordable program to carry this out has not been defined. This paper describes a study that examined use of emerging commercial capabilities to land the sample return elements, with the goal of reducing mission cost. A team at NASA Ames examined the feasibility of the following scenario for MSR: A Falcon Heavy launcher injects a SpaceX Dragon crew capsule and trunk onto a Trans Mars Injection trajectory. The capsule is modified to carry all the hardware needed to return samples collected on Mars including a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), an Earth Return Vehicle (ERV) and Sample Collection and Storage hardware. The Dragon descends to land on the surface of Mars using SuperSonic Retro Propulsion (SSRP) as described by Braun and Manning [IEEEAC paper 0076, 2005]. Samples are acquired and deliverd to the MAV by a prelanded asset, possibly the proposed 2020 rover. After samples are obtained and stored in the ERV, the MAV launches the sample-containing ERV from the surface of Mars. We examined cases where the ERV is delivered to either low Mars orbit (LMO), C3 = 0 (Mars escape), or an intermediate energy state. The ERV then provides the rest of the energy (delta V) required to perform trans-Earth injection (TEI), cruise, and insertion into a Moon-trailing Earth Orbit (MTEO). A later mission, possibly a crewed Dragon launched by a Falcon Heavy (not part of the current study) retrieves the sample container, packages the sample, and performs a controlled Earth re-entry to prevent Mars materials from accidentally contaminating Earth. The key analysis methods used in the study employed a set of parametric mass estimating relationships (MERs) and standard aerospace analysis software codes modified for the MAV class of launch vehicle to determine the range of performance parameters that produced converged

Capturing near-Earth asteroids around Earth

Science.gov (United States)

Hasnain, Zaki; Lamb, Christopher A.; Ross, Shane D.

2012-12-01

The list of detected near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) is constantly growing. NEAs are likely targets for resources to support space industrialization, as they may be the least expensive source of certain needed raw materials. The limited supply of precious metals and semiconducting elements on Earth may be supplemented or even replaced by the reserves floating in the form of asteroids around the solar system. Precious metals make up a significant fraction NEAs by mass, and even one metallic asteroid of ˜1km size and fair enrichment in platinum-group metals would contain twice the tonnage of such metals already harvested on Earth. There are ˜1000 NEAs with a diameter of greater than 1 km. Capturing these asteroids around the Earth would expand the mining industry into an entirely new dimension. Having such resources within easy reach in Earth's orbit could provide an off-world environmentally friendly remedy for impending terrestrial shortages, especially given the need for raw materials in developing nations. In this paper, we develop and implement a conceptually simple algorithm to determine trajectory characteristics necessary to move NEAs into capture orbits around the Earth. Altered trajectories of asteroids are calculated using an ephemeris model. Only asteroids of eccentricity less than 0.1 have been studied and the model is restricted to the ecliptic plane for simplicity. We constrain the time of retrieval to be 10 years or less, based on considerations of the time to return on investment. For the heliocentric phase, constant acceleration is assumed. The acceleration required for transporting these asteroids from their undisturbed orbits to the sphere of influence of the Earth is the primary output, along with the impulse or acceleration necessary to effect capture to a bound orbit once the Earth's sphere of influence is reached. The initial guess for the constant acceleration is provided by a new estimation method, similar in spirit to Edelbaum's. Based on the

Asteroids, Comets, Meteors 2014

Science.gov (United States)

Muinonen, K.; Penttilä, A.; Granvik, M.; Virkki, A.; Fedorets, G.; Wilkman, O.; Kohout, T.

2014-08-01

Asteroids, Comets, Meteors focuses on the research of small Solar System bodies. Small bodies are the key to understanding the formation and evolution of the Solar System, carrying signals from pre-solar times. Understanding the evolution of the Solar System helps unveil the evolution of extrasolar planetary systems. Societally, small bodies will be important future resources of minerals. The near-Earth population of small bodies continues to pose an impact hazard, whether it be small pieces of falling meteorites or larger asteroids or cometary nuclei capable of causing global environmental effects. The conference series entitled ''Asteroids, Comets, Meteors'' constitutes the leading international series in the field of small Solar System bodies. The first three conferences took place in Uppsala, Sweden in 1983, 1985, and 1989. The conference is now returning to Nordic countries after a quarter of a century. After the Uppsala conferences, the conference has taken place in Flagstaff, Arizona, U.S.A. in 1991, Belgirate, Italy in 1993, Paris, France in 1996, Ithaca, New York, U.S.A. in 1999, in Berlin, Germany in 2002, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2005, in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. in 2008, and in Niigata, Japan in 2012. ACM in Helsinki, Finland in 2014 will be the 12th conference in the series.

Mars Sample Return: Mars Ascent Vehicle Mission and Technology Requirements

Science.gov (United States)

Bowles, Jeffrey V.; Huynh, Loc C.; Hawke, Veronica M.; Jiang, Xun J.

2013-01-01

A Mars Sample Return mission is the highest priority science mission for the next decade recommended by the recent Decadal Survey of Planetary Science, the key community input process that guides NASAs science missions. A feasibility study was conducted of a potentially simple and low cost approach to Mars Sample Return mission enabled by the use of developing commercial capabilities. Previous studies of MSR have shown that landing an all up sample return mission with a high mass capacity lander is a cost effective approach. The approach proposed is the use of an emerging commercially available capsule to land the launch vehicle system that would return samples to Earth. This paper describes the mission and technology requirements impact on the launch vehicle system design, referred to as the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV).

Mars Sample Return Architecture Assessment Study

Science.gov (United States)

Centuori, S.; Hermosín, P.; Martín, J.; De Zaiacomo, G.; Colin, S.; Godfrey, A.; Myles, J.; Johnson, H.; Sachdev, T.; Ahmed, R.

2018-04-01

Current paper presents the results of ESA funded activity "Mars Sample Return Architecture Assessment Study" carried-out by DEIMOS Space, Lockheed Martin UK Ampthill, and MDA Corporation, where more than 500 mission design options have been studied.

Multiple Smaller Missions as a Direct Pathway to Mars Sample Return

Science.gov (United States)

Niles, P. B.; Draper, D. S.; Evans, C. A.; Gibson, E. K.; Graham, L. D.; Jones, J. H.; Lederer, S. M.; Ming, D.; Seaman, C. H.; Archer, P. D.;

Asteroid team

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matson, D.L.

1988-01-01

The purpose of this task is to support asteroid research and the operation of an Asteroid Team within the Earth and Space Sciences Division at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The Asteroid Team carries out original research on asteroids in order to discover, better characterize and define asteroid properties. This information is needed for the planning and design of NASA asteroid flyby and rendezvous missions. The asteroid Team also provides scientific and technical advice to NASA and JPL on asteroid related programs. Work on asteroid classification continued and the discovery of two Earth-approaching M asteroids was published. In the asteroid photometry program researchers obtained N or Q photometry for more than 50 asteroids, including the two M-earth-crossers. Compositional analysis of infrared spectra (0.8 to 2.6 micrometer) of asteroids is continuing. Over the next year the work on asteroid classification and composition will continue with the analysis of the 60 reduced infrared spectra which we now have at hand. The radiometry program will continue with the reduction of the N and Q bandpass data for the 57 asteroids in order to obtain albedos and diameters. This year the emphasis will shift to IRAS follow-up observations; which includes objects not observed by IRAS and objects with poor or peculiar IRAS data. As in previous year, we plan to give top priority to any opportunities for observing near-Earth asteroids and the support (through radiometric lightcurve observations from the IRTF) of any stellar occultations by asteroids for which occultation observation expeditions are fielded. Support of preparing of IRAS data for publication and of D. Matson for his participation in the NASA Planetary Astronomy Management and Operations Working Group will continue

Asteroid team

Science.gov (United States)

Matson, D. L.

1988-01-01

The purpose of this task is to support asteroid research and the operation of an Asteroid Team within the Earth and Space Sciences Division at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The Asteroid Team carries out original research on asteroids in order to discover, better characterize and define asteroid properties. This information is needed for the planning and design of NASA asteroid flyby and rendezvous missions. The asteroid Team also provides scientific and technical advice to NASA and JPL on asteroid related programs. Work on asteroid classification continued and the discovery of two Earth-approaching M asteroids was published. In the asteroid photometry program researchers obtained N or Q photometry for more than 50 asteroids, including the two M-earth-crossers. Compositional analysis of infrared spectra (0.8 to 2.6 micrometer) of asteroids is continuing. Over the next year the work on asteroid classification and composition will continue with the analysis of the 60 reduced infrared spectra which we now have at hand. The radiometry program will continue with the reduction of the N and Q bandpass data for the 57 asteroids in order to obtain albedos and diameters. This year the emphasis will shift to IRAS follow-up observations; which includes objects not observed by IRAS and objects with poor or peculiar IRAS data. As in previous year, we plan to give top priority to any opportunities for observing near-Earth asteroids and the support (through radiometric lightcurve observations from the IRTF) of any stellar occultations by asteroids for which occultation observation expeditions are fielded. Support of preparing of IRAS data for publication and of D. Matson for his participation in the NASA Planetary Astronomy Management and Operations Working Group will continue.

The Nature of C Asteroid Regolith from Meteorite Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Zolensky, M.; Mikouchi, T.; Hagiya, K.; Ohsumi, K.; Komatsu, M.; Jenniskens, P.; Le, L.; Yin, Q.-Z; Kebukawa, Y.; Fries, M.

2013-01-01

Regolith from C (and related) asteroid bodies are a focus of the current missions Dawn at Ceres, Hayabusa 2 and OSIRIS REx. An asteroid as large as Ceres is expected to be covered by a mature regolith, and as Hayabusa demonstrated, flat and therefore engineeringly-safe ponded deposits will probably be the sampling sites for both Hayabusa 2 and OSIRIS REx. Here we examine what we have learned about the mineralogy of fine-grained asteroid regolith from recent meteorite studies and the examination of the samples harvested from asteroid Itokawa by Hayabusa.

Spectral properties of binary asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Pajuelo, Myriam; Birlan, Mirel; Carry, Benoît; DeMeo, Francesca E.; Binzel, Richard P.; Berthier, Jérôme

2018-04-01

We present the first attempt to characterize the distribution of taxonomic class among the population of binary asteroids (15% of all small asteroids). For that, an analysis of 0.8-2.5{μ m} near-infrared spectra obtained with the SpeX instrument on the NASA/IRTF is presented. Taxonomic class and meteorite analog is determined for each target, increasing the sample of binary asteroids with known taxonomy by 21%. Most binary systems are bound in the S-, X-, and C- classes, followed by Q and V-types. The rate of binary systems in each taxonomic class agrees within uncertainty with the background population of small near-Earth objects and inner main belt asteroids, but for the C-types which are under-represented among binaries.

The Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment Mission and its Potential Contributions to Human Exploration of Asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Abell, Paul A.; Rivkin, Andy S.

2014-01-01

The joint ESA and NASA Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) mission will directly address aspects of NASA's Asteroid Initiative and will contribute to future human exploration. The NASA Asteroid Initiative is comprised of two major components: the Grand Challenge and the Asteroid Mission. The first component, the Grand Challenge, focuses on protecting Earth's population from asteroid impacts by detecting potentially hazardous objects with enough warning time to either prevent them from impacting the planet, or to implement civil defense procedures. The Asteroid Mission, involves sending astronauts to study and sample a near-Earth asteroid (NEA) prior to conducting exploration missions of the Martian system, which includes Phobos and Deimos. AIDA's primary objective is to demonstrate a kinetic impact deflection and characterize the binary NEA Didymos. The science and technical data obtained from AIDA will aid in the planning of future human exploration missions to NEAs and other small bodies. The dual robotic missions of AIDA, ESA's Asteroid Impact Monitor (AIM) and NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), will provide a great deal of technical and engineering data on spacecraft operations for future human space exploration while conducting in-depth scientific examinations of the binary target Didymos both prior to and after the kinetic impact demonstration. The knowledge gained from this mission will help identify asteroidal physical properties in order to maximize operational efficiency and reduce mission risk for future small body missions. The AIDA data will help fill crucial strategic knowledge gaps concerning asteroid physical characteristics that are relevant for human exploration considerations at similar small body destinations.

International cooperation for Mars exploration and sample return

Science.gov (United States)

Levy, Eugene H.; Boynton, William V.; Cameron, A. G. W.; Carr, Michael H.; Kitchell, Jennifer H.; Mazur, Peter; Pace, Norman R.; Prinn, Ronald G.; Solomon, Sean C.; Wasserburg, Gerald J.

1990-01-01

The National Research Council's Space Studies Board has previously recommended that the next major phase of Mars exploration for the United States involve detailed in situ investigations of the surface of Mars and the return to earth for laboratory analysis of selected Martian surface samples. More recently, the European space science community has expressed general interest in the concept of cooperative Mars exploration and sample return. The USSR has now announced plans for a program of Mars exploration incorporating international cooperation. If the opportunity becomes available to participate in Mars exploration, interest is likely to emerge on the part of a number of other countries, such as Japan and Canada. The Space Studies Board's Committee on Cooperative Mars Exploration and Sample Return was asked by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to examine and report on the question of how Mars sample return missions might best be structured for effective implementation by NASA along with international partners. The committee examined alternatives ranging from scientific missions in which the United States would take a substantial lead, with international participation playing only an ancillary role, to missions in which international cooperation would be a basic part of the approach, with the international partners taking on comparably large mission responsibilities. On the basis of scientific strategies developed earlier by the Space Studies Board, the committee considered the scientific and technical basis of such collaboration and the most mutually beneficial arrangements for constructing successful cooperative missions, particularly with the USSR.

The Camera of the MASCOT Asteroid Lander on Board Hayabusa 2

Science.gov (United States)

Jaumann, R.; Schmitz, N.; Koncz, A.; Michaelis, H.; Schroeder, S. E.; Mottola, S.; Trauthan, F.; Hoffmann, H.; Roatsch, T.; Jobs, D.; Kachlicki, J.; Pforte, B.; Terzer, R.; Tschentscher, M.; Weisse, S.; Mueller, U.; Perez-Prieto, L.; Broll, B.; Kruselburger, A.; Ho, T.-M.; Biele, J.; Ulamec, S.; Krause, C.; Grott, M.; Bibring, J.-P.; Watanabe, S.; Sugita, S.; Okada, T.; Yoshikawa, M.; Yabuta, H.

2017-07-01

The MASCOT Camera (MasCam) is part of the Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) lander's science payload. MASCOT has been launched to asteroid (162173) Ryugu onboard JAXA's Hayabusa 2 asteroid sample return mission on Dec 3rd, 2014. It is scheduled to arrive at Ryugu in 2018, and return samples to Earth by 2020. MasCam was designed and built by DLR's Institute of Planetary Research, together with Airbus-DS Germany. The scientific goals of the MasCam investigation are to provide ground truth for the orbiter's remote sensing observations, provide context for measurements by the other lander instruments (radiometer, spectrometer and magnetometer), the orbiter sampling experiment, and characterize the geological context, compositional variations and physical properties of the surface (e.g. rock and regolith particle size distributions). During daytime, clear filter images will be acquired. During night, illumination of the dark surface is performed by an LED array, equipped with 4×36 monochromatic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) working in four spectral bands. Color imaging will allow the identification of spectrally distinct surface units. Continued imaging during the surface mission phase and the acquisition of image series at different sun angles over the course of an asteroid day will contribute to the physical characterization of the surface and also allow the investigation of time-dependent processes and to determine the photometric properties of the regolith. The MasCam observations, combined with the MASCOT hyperspectral microscope (MMEGA) and radiometer (MARA) thermal observations, will cover a wide range of observational scales and serve as a strong tie point between Hayabusa 2's remote-sensing scales (103-10^{-3} m) and sample scales (10^{-3}-10^{-6} m). The descent sequence and the close-up images will reveal the surface features over a broad range of scales, allowing an assessment of the surface's diversity and close the gap between the orbital observations

Logistics Needs for Potential Deep Space Mission Scenarios Post Asteroid Crewed Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Lopez, Pedro, Jr.

2015-01-01

A deep-space mission has been proposed to identify and redirect an asteroid to a distant retrograde orbit around the moon, and explore it by sending a crew using the Space Launch System and the Orion spacecraft. The Asteroid Redirect Crewed Mission (ARCM), which represents the third segment of the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), could be performed on EM-3 or EM-4 depending on asteroid return date. Recent NASA studies have raised questions on how we could progress from current Human Space Flight (HSF) efforts to longer term human exploration of Mars. This paper will describe the benefits of execution of the ARM as the initial stepping stone towards Mars exploration, and how the capabilities required to send humans to Mars could be built upon those developed for the asteroid mission. A series of potential interim missions aimed at developing such capabilities will be described, and the feasibility of such mission manifest will be discussed. Options for the asteroid crewed mission will also be addressed, including crew size and mission duration.

Autonomous vision-based navigation for proximity operations around binary asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Gil-Fernandez, Jesus; Ortega-Hernando, Guillermo

2018-06-01

Future missions to small bodies demand higher level of autonomy in the Guidance, Navigation and Control system for higher scientific return and lower operational costs. Different navigation strategies have been assessed for ESA's asteroid impact mission (AIM). The main objective of AIM is the detailed characterization of binary asteroid Didymos. The trajectories for the proximity operations shall be intrinsically safe, i.e., no collision in presence of failures (e.g., spacecraft entering safe mode), perturbations (e.g., non-spherical gravity field), and errors (e.g., maneuver execution error). Hyperbolic arcs with sufficient hyperbolic excess velocity are designed to fulfil the safety, scientific, and operational requirements. The trajectory relative to the asteroid is determined using visual camera images. The ground-based trajectory prediction error at some points is comparable to the camera Field Of View (FOV). Therefore, some images do not contain the entire asteroid. Autonomous navigation can update the state of the spacecraft relative to the asteroid at higher frequency. The objective of the autonomous navigation is to improve the on-board knowledge compared to the ground prediction. The algorithms shall fit in off-the-shelf, space-qualified avionics. This note presents suitable image processing and relative-state filter algorithms for autonomous navigation in proximity operations around binary asteroids.

Linear Covariance Analysis For Proximity Operations Around Asteroid 2008 EV5

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Cinnamon A.; Bhatt, Sagar; Woffinden, David; Strube, Matthew; D'Souza, Christopher; DeWeese, Keith

2015-01-01

The NASA initiative to collect an asteroid the Asteroid Robotic Redirect Mission (ARRM) is currently investigating the option of retrieving a boulder off an asteroid, demonstrating planetary defense with an enhanced gravity tractor technique and returning it to a lunar orbit. Techniques for accomplishing this are being investigated by the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office (SSOO) and NASA GSFC in colloboration with JPL, NASA, JSC, LaRC, and Draper Laboratories Inc. Two critical phases of the mission are the descent to the boulder and the Enhanced Gravity Tractor-enhanced gravity tractor demonstration. A linear covariance analysis was done for these phases to assess the feasibility of these concepts with the proposed design of the sensor and actuaor suite of the Asteroid Redirect Vehicle (ARV). The sensor suite for this analysis will include a wide field of view camera, Lidar, and a MMU. The proposed asteroid of interest is currently the C-type asteroid 2008 EV5, a carbonaceous chondrite that is of high interest to the scientific community. This paper will present an overview of the analysis discuss sensor and actuator models and address the feasibility of descending to the boulder within the requirements as the feasibility of maintaining the halo orbit in order to demonstrate the Enhanced Gravity Tractor-enhanced gravity tractory technique.

Volcanism on differentiated asteroids (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, L.

2013-12-01

The Dawn spacecraft's investigation of 4 Vesta, best-preserved of the early-forming differentiated asteroids, prompts a reappraisal of factors controlling igneous activity on such bodies. Analogy with melt transfer in zones of partial melting on Earth implies that silicate melts moved efficiently within asteroid mantles in complex networks of veins and dikes, so that only a few percent of the mantle consisted of melt at any one time. Thus even in cases where large amounts of mantle melting occurred, the melts did not remain in the mantle to form "magma oceans", but instead migrated to shallow depths. The link between magma flow rate and the stresses needed to keep fractures open and allow flow fast enough to avoid excessive cooling implies that only within asteroids with radii more than ~190-250 km would continuous magma flow from mantle to surface be possible. In all smaller asteroids (including Vesta) magma must have accumulated in sills at the base of the lithosphere (the conductively controlled ~10 km thick thermal boundary layer) or in crustal magma reservoirs near its base. Magma would then have erupted intermittently to the surface from these steadily replenished reservoirs. The average rates of eruption to the surface (or shallow intrusion) should balance the magma production rate, but since magma could accumulate and erupt intermittently from these reservoirs, the instantaneous eruption rates could be hundreds to thousands of cubic m/s, comparable to historic basaltic eruption rates on Earth and very much greater than the average mantle melting rate. The absence of asteroid atmospheres makes explosive eruptions likely even if magmas are volatile-poor. On asteroids with radii less than ~100 km, gases and sub-mm pyroclastic melt droplets would have had speeds exceeding the escape speed assuming a few hundred ppm volatiles, and only cm sized or larger clasts would have been retained. On larger bodies almost all pyroclasts will have returned to the surface

Hungaria asteroid region telescopic spectral survey (HARTSS) I: Stony asteroids abundant in the Hungaria background population

Science.gov (United States)

Lucas, Michael P.; Emery, Joshua P.; Pinilla-Alonso, Noemi; Lindsay, Sean S.; Lorenzi, Vania

2017-07-01

The Hungaria asteroids remain as survivors of late giant planet migration that destabilized a now extinct inner portion of the primordial asteroid belt and left in its wake the current resonance structure of the Main Belt. In this scenario, the Hungaria region represents a ;purgatory; for the closest, preserved samples of the asteroidal material from which the terrestrial planets accreted. Deciphering the surface composition of these unique samples may provide constraints on the nature of the primordial building blocks of the terrestrial planets. We have undertaken an observational campaign entitled the Hungaria Asteroid Region Telescopic Spectral Survey (HARTSS) to record near-infrared (NIR) reflectance spectra in order to characterize their taxonomy, surface mineralogy, and potential meteorite analogs. The overall objective of HARTSS is to evaluate the compositional diversity of asteroids located throughout the Hungaria region. This region harbors a collisional family of Xe-type asteroids, which are situated among a background (i.e., non-family) of predominantly S-complex asteroids. In order to assess the compositional diversity of the Hungaria region, we have targeted background objects during Phase I of HARTSS. Collisional family members likely reflect the composition of one original homogeneous parent body, so we have largely avoided them in this phase. We have employed NIR instruments at two ground-based telescope facilities: the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), and the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG). Our data set includes the NIR spectra of 42 Hungaria asteroids (36 background; 6 family). We find that stony S-complex asteroids dominate the Hungaria background population (29/36 objects; ∼80%). C-complex asteroids are uncommon (2/42; ∼5%) within the Hungaria region. Background S-complex objects exhibit considerable spectral diversity as band parameter measurements of diagnostic absorption features near 1- and 2-μm indicate that several

Mars Sample Return: Do Australians trust NASA?

Science.gov (United States)

Joyce, S.; Tomkins, C. S.; Weinstein, P.

2008-09-01

Mars Sample Return (MSR) represents an important scientific goal in space exploration. Any sample return mission will be extremely challenging from a scientific, economic and technical standpoint. But equally testing, will be communicating with a public that may have a very different perception of the mission. A MSR mission will generate international publicity and it is vital that NASA acknowledge the nature and extent of public concern about the mission risks and, perhaps equally importantly, the public’s confidence in NASA’s ability to prepare for and manage these risks. This study investigated the level of trust in NASA in an Australian population sample, and whether this trust was dependent on demographic variables. Participants completed an online survey that explored their attitudes towards NASA and a MSR mission. The results suggested that people believe NASA will complete the mission successfully but have doubts as to whether NASA will be honest when communicating with the public. The most significant finding to emerge from this study was that confidence in NASA was significantly (p communication.

Mars Sample Return Using Solar Sail Propulsion

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Les; Macdonald, Malcolm; Mcinnes, Colin; Percy, Tom

2012-01-01

Many Mars Sample Return (MSR) architecture studies have been conducted over the years. A key element of them is the Earth Return Stage (ERS) whose objective is to obtain the sample from the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) and return it safely to the surface of the Earth. ERS designs predominantly use chemical propulsion [1], incurring a significant launch mass penalty due to the low specific impulse of such systems coupled with the launch mass sensitivity to returned mass. It is proposed to use solar sail propulsion for the ERS, providing a high (effective) specific impulse propulsion system in the final stage of the multi-stage system. By doing so to the launch mass of the orbiter mission can be significantly reduced and hence potentially decreasing mission cost. Further, solar sailing offers a unique set of non-Keplerian low thrust trajectories that may enable modifications to the current approach to designing the Earth Entry Vehicle by potentially reducing the Earth arrival velocity. This modification will further decrease the mass of the orbiter system. Solar sail propulsion uses sunlight to propel vehicles through space by reflecting solar photons from a large, mirror-like surface made of a lightweight, reflective material. The continuous photonic pressure provides propellantless thrust to conduct orbital maneuvering and plane changes more efficiently than conventional chemical propulsion. Because the Sun supplies the necessary propulsive energy, solar sails require no onboard propellant, thus reducing system mass. This technology is currently at TRL 7/8 as demonstrated by the 2010 flight of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, IKAROS mission. [2

Ground-based characterization of Hayabusa2 mission target asteroid 162173 Ryugu: constraining mineralogical composition in preparation for spacecraft operations

Science.gov (United States)

Le Corre, Lucille; Sanchez, Juan A.; Reddy, Vishnu; Takir, Driss; Cloutis, Edward A.; Thirouin, Audrey; Becker, Kris J.; Li, Jian-Yang; Sugita, Seiji; Tatsumi, Eri

2018-03-01

Asteroids that are targets of spacecraft missions are interesting because they present us with an opportunity to validate ground-based spectral observations. One such object is near-Earth asteroid (NEA) (162173) Ryugu, which is the target of the Japanese Space Agency's (JAXA) Hayabusa2 sample return mission. We observed Ryugu using the 3-m NASA Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, on 2016 July 13 to constrain the object's surface composition, meteorite analogues, and link to other asteroids in the main belt and NEA populations. We also modelled its photometric properties using archival data. Using the Lommel-Seeliger model we computed the predicted flux for Ryugu at a wide range of viewing geometries as well as albedo quantities such as geometric albedo, phase integral, and spherical Bond albedo. Our computed albedo quantities are consistent with results from Ishiguro et al. Our spectral analysis has found a near-perfect match between our spectrum of Ryugu and those of NEA (85275) 1994 LY and Mars-crossing asteroid (316720) 1998 BE7, suggesting that their surface regoliths have similar composition. We compared Ryugu's spectrum with that of main belt asteroid (302) Clarissa, the largest asteroid in the Clarissa asteroid family, suggested as a possible source of Ryugu by Campins et al. We found that the spectrum of Clarissa shows significant differences with our spectrum of Ryugu, but it is similar to the spectrum obtained by Moskovitz et al. The best possible meteorite analogues for our spectrum of Ryugu are two CM2 carbonaceous chondrites, Mighei and ALH83100.

Initial inflight calibration for Hayabusa2 optical navigation camera (ONC) for science observations of asteroid Ryugu

Science.gov (United States)

Suzuki, H.; Yamada, M.; Kouyama, T.; Tatsumi, E.; Kameda, S.; Honda, R.; Sawada, H.; Ogawa, N.; Morota, T.; Honda, C.; Sakatani, N.; Hayakawa, M.; Yokota, Y.; Yamamoto, Y.; Sugita, S.

2018-01-01

Hayabusa2, the first sample return mission to a C-type asteroid was launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on December 3, 2014 and will arrive at the asteroid in the middle of 2018 to collect samples from its surface, which may contain both hydrated minerals and organics. The optical navigation camera (ONC) system on board the Hayabusa2 consists of three individual framing CCD cameras, ONC-T for a telescopic nadir view, ONC-W1 for a wide-angle nadir view, and ONC-W2 for a wide-angle slant view will be used to observe the surface of Ryugu. The cameras will be used to measure the global asteroid shape, local morphologies, and visible spectroscopic properties. Thus, image data obtained by ONC will provide essential information to select landing (sampling) sites on the asteroid. This study reports the results of initial inflight calibration based on observations of Earth, Mars, Moon, and stars to verify and characterize the optical performance of the ONC, such as flat-field sensitivity, spectral sensitivity, point-spread function (PSF), distortion, and stray light of ONC-T, and distortion for ONC-W1 and W2. We found some potential problems that may influence our science observations. This includes changes in sensitivity of flat fields for all bands from those that were measured in the pre-flight calibration and existence of a stray light that arises under certain conditions of spacecraft attitude with respect to the sun. The countermeasures for these problems were evaluated by using data obtained during initial in-flight calibration. The results of our inflight calibration indicate that the error of spectroscopic measurements around 0.7 μm using 0.55, 0.70, and 0.86 μm bands of the ONC-T can be lower than 0.7% after these countermeasures and pixel binning. This result suggests that our ONC-T would be able to detect typical strength (∼3%) of the serpentine absorption band often found on CM chondrites and low albedo asteroids with ≥ 4�

Processes to Open the Container and the Sample Catcher of the Hayabusa Returned Capsule in the Planetary Material Sample Curation Facility of JAXA

Science.gov (United States)

Fujimura, A.; Abe, M.; Yada, T.; Nakamura, T.; Noguchi, T.; Okazaki, R.; Ishibashi, Y.; Shirai, K.; Okada, T.; Yano, H.;

Reanalysis of Asteroid Families Structure Through Visible Spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Mothé-Diniz, T.; Carvano, J.; Roig, F.; Lazzaro, D.

In this work we re-analyse the presence of interlopers in asteroid families based on a larger spectral database and on a family determination which makes use of a larger set of proper elements. The asteroid families were defined using the HCM method (Zappalà et al. 1995) on the set of proper elements for 110,000 asteroids available at the Asteroid Dynamic Site (AstDyS http://hamilton.dm.unipi.it/astdys )). The spectroscopic analysis is performed using spectra on the 0.44-0.92 μ m range observed by the SMASS Xu et al. 1995, SMASSII (Bus and Binzel, 2002) and 3OS2 (Lazzaro et al. 2002) surveys, which together total around 2140 asteroids with observed spectra. The asteroid taxonomy used is the Bus taxonomy (Bus et al. 2000). A total of 22 two families were analysed . The families of Vesta, Eunomia, Hoffmeister, Dora, Merxia, Agnia, and Koronis were found to be spectrally homogeneous, which confirms previous studies. The Veritas family, on the other hand, which is quoted in the literature as an heterogeneous family was found to be quite homogeneous in the present work. The Eos family is noteworthy for being at one time spectrally heterogeneous and quite different from the background population. References Bus, S. J., and R. P. Binzel 2002. Phase II of the Small Main-Belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey - The Observations. Icarus 158, 106-145. Bus, S. J., R. P. Binzel, and T. H. Burbine 2000. A New Generation of Asteroid Taxonomy. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, vol. 35, Supplement, p.A36 35, 36 +. Lazzaro, D., C. A. Angeli, T. Mothe-Diniz, J. M. Carvano, R. Duffard, and M. Florczak 2002. The superficial characterization of a large sample of asteroids: the S3OS2. Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society 34, 859 +. Xu, S., R. P. Binzel, T. H. Burbine, and S. J. Bus 1995. Small main-belt asteroid spectroscopic survey: Initial results. Icarus 115, 1-35. Zappala, V., P. Bendjoya, A. Cellino, P. Farinella, and C. Froeschle 1995. Asteroid families: Search of a 12

X-Ray Computed Tomography: The First Step in Mars Sample Return Processing

Science.gov (United States)

Welzenbach, L. C.; Fries, M. D.; Grady, M. M.; Greenwood, R. C.; McCubbin, F. M.; Zeigler, R. A.; Smith, C. L.; Steele, A.

2017-01-01

The Mars 2020 rover mission will collect and cache samples from the martian surface for possible retrieval and subsequent return to Earth. If the samples are returned, that mission would likely present an opportunity to analyze returned Mars samples within a geologic context on Mars. In addition, it may provide definitive information about the existence of past or present life on Mars. Mars sample return presents unique challenges for the collection, containment, transport, curation and processing of samples [1] Foremost in the processing of returned samples are the closely paired considerations of life detection and Planetary Protection. In order to achieve Mars Sample Return (MSR) science goals, reliable analyses will depend on overcoming some challenging signal/noise-related issues where sparse martian organic compounds must be reliably analyzed against the contamination background. While reliable analyses will depend on initial clean acquisition and robust documentation of all aspects of developing and managing the cache [2], there needs to be a reliable sample handling and analysis procedure that accounts for a variety of materials which may or may not contain evidence of past or present martian life. A recent report [3] suggests that a defined set of measurements should be made to effectively inform both science and Planetary Protection, when applied in the context of the two competing null hypotheses: 1) that there is no detectable life in the samples; or 2) that there is martian life in the samples. The defined measurements would include a phased approach that would be accepted by the community to preserve the bulk of the material, but provide unambiguous science data that can be used and interpreted by various disciplines. Fore-most is the concern that the initial steps would ensure the pristine nature of the samples. Preliminary, non-invasive techniques such as computed X-ray tomography (XCT) have been suggested as the first method to interrogate and

Asteroid/meteorite streams

Science.gov (United States)

Drummond, J.

The independent discovery of the same three streams (named alpha, beta, and gamma) among 139 Earth approaching asteroids and among 89 meteorite producing fireballs presents the possibility of matching specific meteorites to specific asteroids, or at least to asteroids in the same stream and, therefore, presumably of the same composition. Although perhaps of limited practical value, the three meteorites with known orbits are all ordinary chondrites. To identify, in general, the taxonomic type of the parent asteroid, however, would be of great scientific interest since these most abundant meteorite types cannot be unambiguously spectrally matched to an asteroid type. The H5 Pribram meteorite and asteroid 4486 (unclassified) are not part of a stream, but travel in fairly similar orbits. The LL5 Innisfree meteorite is orbitally similar to asteroid 1989DA (unclassified), and both are members of a fourth stream (delta) defined by five meteorite-dropping fireballs and this one asteroid. The H5 Lost City meteorite is orbitally similar to 1980AA (S type), which is a member of stream gamma defined by four asteroids and four fireballs. Another asteroid in this stream is classified as an S type, another is QU, and the fourth is unclassified. This stream suggests that ordinary chondrites should be associated with S (and/or Q) asteroids. Two of the known four V type asteroids belong to another stream, beta, defined by five asteroids and four meteorite-dropping (but unrecovered) fireballs, making it the most probable source of the eucrites. The final stream, alpha, defined by five asteroids and three fireballs is of unknown composition since no meteorites have been recovered and only one asteroid has an ambiguous classification of QRS. If this stream, or any other as yet undiscovered ones, were found to be composed of a more practical material (e.g., water or metalrich), then recovery of the associated meteorites would provide an opportunity for in-hand analysis of a potential

Communications Relay and Human-Assisted Sample Return from the Deep Space Gateway

Science.gov (United States)

Cichan, T.; Hopkins, J. B.; Bierhaus, B.; Murrow, D. W.

2018-02-01

The Deep Space Gateway can enable or enhance exploration of the lunar surface through two capabilities: 1. communications relay, opening up access to the lunar farside, and 2. sample return, enhancing the ability to return large sample masses.

Utilization of an H-reversal trajectory of a solar sail for asteroid deflection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gong Shengping; Li Junfeng; Zeng Xiangyuan

2011-01-01

Near Earth Asteroids have a possibility of impacting the Earth and always represent a threat. This paper proposes a way of changing the orbit of the asteroid to avoid an impact. A solar sail evolving in an H-reversal trajectory is utilized for asteroid deflection. Firstly, the dynamics of the solar sail and the characteristics of the H-reversal trajectory are analyzed. Then, the attitude of the solar sail is optimized to guide the sail to impact the target asteroid along an H-reversal trajectory. The impact velocity depends on two important parameters: the minimum solar distance along the trajectory and lightness number of the solar sail. A larger lightness number and a smaller solar distance lead to a higher impact velocity. Finally, the deflection capability of a solar sail impacting the asteroid along the H-reversal trajectory is discussed. The results show that a 10 kg solar sail with a lead-time of one year can move Apophis out of a 600-m keyhole area in 2029 to eliminate the possibility of its resonant return in 2036. (editor's recommendation)

An Internationally Coordinated Science Management Plan for Samples Returned from Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Haltigin, T.; Smith, C. L.

2015-12-01

Mars Sample Return (MSR) remains a high priority of the planetary exploration community. Such an effort will undoubtedly be too large for any individual agency to conduct itself, and thus will require extensive global cooperation. To help prepare for an eventual MSR campaign, the International Mars Exploration Working Group (IMEWG) chartered the international Mars Architecture for the Return of Samples (iMARS) Phase II working group in 2014, consisting of representatives from 17 countries and agencies. The overarching task of the team was to provide recommendations for progressing towards campaign implementation, including a proposed science management plan. Building upon the iMARS Phase I (2008) outcomes, the Phase II team proposed the development of an International MSR Science Institute as part of the campaign governance, centering its deliberations around four themes: Organization: including an organizational structure for the Institute that outlines roles and responsibilities of key members and describes sample return facility requirements; Management: presenting issues surrounding scientific leadership, defining guidelines and assumptions for Institute membership, and proposing a possible funding model; Operations & Data: outlining a science implementation plan that details the preliminary sample examination flow, sample allocation process, and data policies; and Curation: introducing a sample curation plan that comprises sample tracking and routing procedures, sample sterilization considerations, and long-term archiving recommendations. This work presents a summary of the group's activities, findings, and recommendations, highlighting the role of international coordination in managing the returned samples.

ASTROMETRIC MASSES OF 26 ASTEROIDS AND OBSERVATIONS ON ASTEROID POROSITY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baer, James; Chesley, Steven R.; Matson, Robert D.

2011-01-01

As an application of our recent observational error model, we present the astrometric masses of 26 main-belt asteroids. We also present an integrated ephemeris of 300 large asteroids, which was used in the mass determination algorithm to model significant perturbations from the rest of the main belt. After combining our mass estimates with those of other authors, we study the bulk porosities of over 50 main-belt asteroids and observe that asteroids as large as 300 km in diameter may be loose aggregates. This finding may place specific constraints on models of main-belt collisional evolution. Additionally, we observe that C-group asteroids tend to have significantly higher macroporosity than S-group asteroids.

The kilometer-sized Main Belt asteroid population revealed by Spitzer

Science.gov (United States)

Ryan, E. L.; Mizuno, D. R.; Shenoy, S. S.; Woodward, C. E.; Carey, S. J.; Noriega-Crespo, A.; Kraemer, K. E.; Price, S. D.

2015-06-01

Aims: Multi-epoch Spitzer Space Telescope 24 μm data is utilized from the MIPSGAL and Taurus Legacy surveys to detect asteroids based on their relative motion. Methods: Infrared detections are matched to known asteroids and average diameters and albedos are derived using the near Earth asteroid thermal model (NEATM) for 1865 asteroids ranging in size from 0.2 to 169 km. A small subsample of these objects was also detected by IRAS or MSX and the single wavelength albedo and diameter fits derived from these data are within the uncertainties of the IRAS and/or MSX derived albedos and diameters and available occultation diameters, which demonstrates the robustness of our technique. Results: The mean geometric albedo of the small Main Belt asteroids in this sample is pV = 0.134 with a sample standard deviation of 0.106. The albedo distribution of this sample is far more diverse than the IRAS or MSX samples. The cumulative size-frequency distribution of asteroids in the Main Belt at small diameters is directly derived and a 3σ deviation from the fitted size-frequency distribution slope is found near 8 km. Completeness limits of the optical and infrared surveys are discussed. Tables 1-3 are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/578/A42

An integrated and accessible sample data library for Mars sample return science

Science.gov (United States)

Tuite, M. L., Jr.; Williford, K. H.

2015-12-01

Over the course of the next decade or more, many thousands of geological samples will be collected and analyzed in a variety of ways by researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (California Institute of Technology) in order to facilitate discovery and contextualize observations made of Mars rocks both in situ and here on Earth if samples are eventually returned. Integration of data from multiple analyses of samples including petrography, thin section and SEM imaging, isotope and organic geochemistry, XRF, XRD, and Raman spectrometry is a challenge and a potential obstacle to discoveries that require supporting lines of evidence. We report the development of a web-accessible repository, the Sample Data Library (SDL) for the sample-based data that are generated by the laboratories and instruments that comprise JPL's Center for Analysis of Returned Samples (CARS) in order to facilitate collaborative interpretation of potential biosignatures in Mars-analog geological samples. The SDL is constructed using low-cost, open-standards-based Amazon Web Services (AWS), including web-accessible storage, relational data base services, and a virtual web server. The data structure is sample-centered with a shared registry for assigning unique identifiers to all samples including International Geo-Sample Numbers. Both raw and derived data produced by instruments and post-processing workflows are automatically uploaded to online storage and linked via the unique identifiers. Through the web interface, users are able to find all the analyses associated with a single sample or search across features shared by multiple samples, sample localities, and analysis types. Planned features include more sophisticated search and analytical interfaces as well as data discoverability through NSF's EarthCube program.

Hungaria Asteroid Region Telescopic Spectral Survey (HARTSS): Stony Asteroids Abundant in the Background and Family Populations

Science.gov (United States)

Lucas, Michael P.; Emery, Joshua P.; Pinilla-Alonso, Noemi; Lindsay, Sean S.; Lorenzi, Vania

2016-10-01

The Hungaria region represents a "purgatory" for the closest, preserved samples of the material from which the terrestrial planets accreted. The Hungaria region harbors a collisional family of Xe-type asteroids, which are situated among a background of predominantly S-complex asteroids. Deciphering their surface composition may provide constraints on the nature of the primordial building blocks of the terrestrial planets. We hypothesize that planetesimals in the inner part of the primordial asteroid belt experienced partial- to full-melting and differentiation, the Hungaria region should retain any petrologically-evolved material that formed there.We have undertaken an observational campaign entitled the Hungaria Asteroid Region Telescopic Spectral Survey (HARTSS) to record near-infrared (NIR) spectra to characterize taxonomy, surface mineralogy, and potential meteorite analogs. We used NIR instruments at two ground-based facilities (NASA IRTF; TNG). Our data set includes spectra of 82 Hungaria asteroids (61 background; 21 family), 65 were observed during HARTSS. We compare S-complex background asteroids to calibrations developed via laboratory analyses of ordinary chondrites, and to our analyses (EPMA, XRD, VIS+NIR spectra) of 11 primitive achondrite (acapulcoite-lodranite clan) meteorites.We find that stony S-complex asteroids dominate the Hungaria background population (~80%). Background objects exhibit considerable spectral diversity, when quantified by spectral band parameter measurements, translates to a variety of surface compositions. Two main meteorite groups are represented within the Hungaria background: unmelted, nebular L chondrites (and/or L chondrites), and partially-melted primitive achondrites. H-chondrite mineralogies appear to be absent from the Hungaria background. Xe-type Hungaria family members exhibit spectral homogeneity, consistent with the hypothesis that the family was derived from the disruption of a parent body analogous to an enstatite

Carbon Isotopic Ratios of Amino Acids in Stardust-Returned Samples

Science.gov (United States)

Elsila, Jamie E.; Glavin, Daniel P.; Dworkin, Jason P.

2009-01-01

NASA's Stardust spacecraft returned to Earth samples from comet 81P/Wild 2 in January 2006. Preliminary examinations revealed the presence of a suite of organic compounds including several amines and amino acids, but the origin of these compounds could not be identified. Here. we present the carbon isotopic ratios of glycine and E-aminocaproic acid (EACH), the two most abundant amino acids observed, in Stardust-returned foil samples measured by gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio crass spectrometry coupled with quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-QMS/IRMS).

The Origin of Asteroid 101955 (1999 RQ36)

Science.gov (United States)

Campins, Humberto; Morbidelli, A.; de León, J.; Tsiganis, K.; Licandro, J.

2010-10-01

Near-Earth asteroid 101955 (1999 RQ36; henceforth RQ36) is particularly interesting. It's especially accessible to spacecraft and is the primary target of NASA's OSIRIS-REx sample return mission; it's also a potentially hazardous asteroid (Milani et al. 2009). We combine dynamical and spectral information to identify the most likely main-belt origin of RQ36 and conclude that it is the Polana family, located at a semi-major axis of about 2.42 AU (our approach is similar to that used by de León et al. (2010) to link 3200 Phaethon, parent body of the Geminids, to 2 Pallas). Our conclusion is based on the following results. a) Dynamical evidence favors strongly an inner-belt, low-inclination (2.15 AU families (families are favored over single objects because small fragments have already been produced). c) The Polana family is characterized by low albedos and B-class spectra or colors (Bus and Binzel 2002), which is the same spectral class, and albedo, as RQ36. d) The SDSS colors show that the Polana family is the branch of the Nysa-Polana complex that extends toward the ν6 resonance; furthermore, Polana has delivered objects the size of RQ36 and larger into the ν6 resonance. e) RQ36 is retrograde, consistent with the Yarkovsky effect having moved it inward from Polana into the ν6. f) A quantitative comparison of visible and near-infrared spectra does not yield a unique match for RQ36; however, it is consistent with a compositional link between RQ36 and the Polana family. Finally, the Polana Family is likely the most important inner-belt source of low albedo Near-Earth asteroids. This work was supported by NASA and NSF.

Asteroid size distributions for the main belt and for asteroid families

Science.gov (United States)

Kazantzev, A.; Kazantzeva, L.

2017-12-01

The asteroid-size distribution for he Eos family was constructed. The WISE database containing the albedo p and the size D of over 80,000 asteroids was used. The b parameter of the power-law dependence has a minimum at some average values of the asteroid size of the family. A similar dependence b(D) exists for the whole asteroid belt. An assumption on the possible similarity of the formation mechanisms of the asteroid belt as a whole and separate families is made.

Hayabusa2 NIRS3’s Investigation to Characterize and Select Sampling and Landing Sites on Asteroid (25143) Ryugu

Science.gov (United States)

Takir, Driss; Hibbitts, Charles A.; Le Corre, Lucille; Emery, Joshua P.; Kitazato, Kohei; Sugita, Seiji; Nakauchi, Yusuke

2017-10-01

Following the visit of the spacecraft Hayabusa to (25143) Itokawa in 2005, the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) launched a second spacecraft, Hayabusa2, in 2014 to the near-Earth Apollo asteroid (162173) Ryugu, a C-complex asteroid. Hayabusa2 will arrive at Ryugu in 2018. Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) are important objects to study because of their possible role in the delivery of water and complex organic molecules to early Earth, and their threats to impact the Earth at irregular and unpredictable periods in the future. Hayabusa2 mission will provide exceptional science with a primary objective to illuminate the origin, evolution, and distribution of volatiles and organics on the surface of Ryugu and in the Solar System. Here we present our Near Infrared Spectrometer(NIRS3)-related strategy and plan to help the science team to characterize and select sampling and landing sites to collect carbonaceous samples from Ryugu and bring them back to Earth in 2020. Our plan includes, (1) measuring spectra of various carbonaceous chondrites and end-member hydrated silicates under asteroid-like conditions (vacuum and elevated temperatures) to develop spectral parameters of minerals and chemical compounds that we expect to detect on Ryugu, particularly around 2.8 to 3.2 µm, and (2) thermally and photometrically correcting Ryugu’s spectra to create site-specific and global maps of the mineralogical and chemical relative abundances across Ryugu’s surface, in addition to creating various albedo maps, including the geometric and bolometric Bond albedo. Previous 3-µm spectroscopic studies were conducted in ambient terrestrial environments, and hence were contaminated by atmospheric water. In our work, however, chondrite reflectance and hydrated mineral spectra are measured under asteroid-like conditions to remove adsorbed water and accurately compute the spectral parameters that will be used for Ryugu’s mineralogical and chemical mapping.AcknowledgementsWe wish to thank the

A Review of New and Developing Technology to Significantly Improve Mars Sample-Return Missions

Science.gov (United States)

Carsey, F.; Brophy, J.; Gilmore, M.; Rodgers, D.; Wilcox, B.

2000-07-01

A JPL development activity was initiated in FY 1999 for the purpose of examining and evaluating technologies that could materially improve future (i.e., beyond the 2005 launch) Mars sample return missions. The scope of the technology review was comprehensive and end-to-end; the goal was to improve mass, cost, risk, and scientific return. A specific objective was to assess approaches to sample return with only one Earth launch. While the objective of the study was specifically for sample-return, in-situ missions can also benefit from using many of the technologies examined.

Sample Return Mission to the South Pole Aitken Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Duke, M. B.; Clark, B. C.; Gamber, T.; Lucey, P. G.; Ryder, G.; Taylor, G. J.

1999-01-01

The South Pole Aitken Basin (SPA) is the largest and oldest observed feature on the Moon. Compositional and topographic data from Galileo, Clementine, and Lunar Prospector have demonstrated that SPA represents a distinctive major lunar terrane, which has not been sampled either by sample return missions (Apollo, Luna) or by lunar meteorites. The floor of SPA is characterized by mafic compositions enriched in Fe, Ti, and Th in comparison to its surroundings. This composition may represent melt rocks from the SPA event, which would be mixtures of the preexisting crust and mantle rocks. However, the Fe content is higher than expected, and the large Apollo basin, within SPA, exposes deeper material with lower iron content. Some of the Fe enrichment may represent mare and cryptomare deposits. No model adequately accounts for all of the characteristics of the SPA and disagreements are fundamental. Is mantle material exposed or contained as fragments in melt rock and breccias? If impact melt is present, did the vast sheet differentiate? Was the initial mantle and crust compositionally different from other regions of the Moon? Was the impact event somehow peculiar, (e.g., a low-velocity impact)? The precise time of formation of the SPA is unknown, being limited only by the initial differentiation of the Moon and the age of the Imbrium event, believed to be 3.9 b.y. The questions raised by the SPA can be addressed only with detailed sample analysis. Analysis of the melt rocks, fragments in breccias, and basalts of SPA can address several highly significant problems for the Moon and the history of the solar system. The time of formation of SPA, based on analysis of melt rocks formed in the event. would put limits on the period of intense bombardment of the Moon, which has been inferred by some to include a "terminal cataclysm." If close to 3.9 Ga, the presumed age of the Imbrium Basin, the SPA date would confirm the lunar cataclysm. This episode, if it occurred, would have

Spatial Mapping of Organic Carbon in Returned Samples from Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Siljeström, S.; Fornaro, T.; Greenwalt, D.; Steele, A.

2018-04-01

To map organic material spatially to minerals present in the sample will be essential for the understanding of the origin of any organics in returned samples from Mars. It will be shown how ToF-SIMS may be used to map organics in samples from Mars.

Asteroids@Home

Science.gov (United States)

Durech, Josef; Hanus, J.; Vanco, R.

2012-10-01

We present a new project called Asteroids@home (http://asteroidsathome.net/boinc). It is a volunteer-computing project that uses an open-source BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing) software to distribute tasks to volunteers, who provide their computing resources. The project was created at the Astronomical Institute, Charles University in Prague, in cooperation with the Czech National Team. The scientific aim of the project is to solve a time-consuming inverse problem of shape reconstruction of asteroids from sparse-in-time photometry. The time-demanding nature of the problem comes from the fact that with sparse-in-time photometry the rotation period of an asteroid is not apriori known and a huge parameter space must be densely scanned for the best solution. The nature of the problem makes it an ideal task to be solved by distributed computing - the period parameter space can be divided into small bins that can be scanned separately and then joined together to give the globally best solution. In the framework of the the project, we process asteroid photometric data from surveys together with asteroid lightcurves and we derive asteroid shapes and spin states. The algorithm is based on the lightcurve inversion method developed by Kaasalainen et al. (Icarus 153, 37, 2001). The enormous potential of distributed computing will enable us to effectively process also the data from future surveys (Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, Gaia mission, etc.). We also plan to process data of a synthetic asteroid population to reveal biases of the method. In our presentation, we will describe the project, show the first results (new models of asteroids), and discuss the possibilities of its further development. This work has been supported by the grant GACR P209/10/0537 of the Czech Science Foundation and by the Research Program MSM0021620860 of the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic.

Mars Sample Return - Launch and Detection Strategies for Orbital Rendezvous

Science.gov (United States)

Woolley, Ryan C.; Mattingly, Richard L.; Riedel, Joseph E.; Sturm, Erick J.

2011-01-01

This study sets forth conceptual mission design strategies for the ascent and rendezvous phase of the proposed NASA/ESA joint Mars Sample Return Campaign. The current notional mission architecture calls for the launch of an acquisition/cache rover in 2018, an orbiter with an Earth return vehicle in 2022, and a fetch rover and ascent vehicle in 2024. Strategies are presented to launch the sample into a coplanar orbit with the Orbiter which facilitate robust optical detection, orbit determination, and rendezvous. Repeating ground track orbits exist at 457 and 572 km which provide multiple launch opportunities with similar geometries for detection and rendezvous.

Mars Sample Return: Launch and Detection Strategies for Orbital Rendezvous

Science.gov (United States)

Woolley, Ryan C.; Mattingly, Richard L.; Riedel, Joseph E.; Sturm, Erick J.

2011-01-01

This study sets forth conceptual mission design strategies for the ascent and rendezvous phase of the proposed NASA/ESA joint Mars Sample Return Campaign. The current notional mission architecture calls for the launch of an acquisition/ caching rover in 2018, an Earth return orbiter in 2022, and a fetch rover with ascent vehicle in 2024. Strategies are presented to launch the sample into a nearly coplanar orbit with the Orbiter which would facilitate robust optical detection, orbit determination, and rendezvous. Repeating ground track orbits existat 457 and 572 km which would provide multiple launch opportunities with similar geometries for detection and rendezvous.

A core handling device for the Mars Sample Return Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Gwynne, Owen

1989-01-01

A core handling device for use on Mars is being designed. To provide a context for the design study, it was assumed that a Mars Rover/Sample Return (MRSR) Mission would have the following characteristics: a year or more in length; visits by the rover to 50 or more sites; 100 or more meter-long cores being drilled by the rover; and the capability of returning about 5 kg of Mars regolith to Earth. These characteristics lead to the belief that in order to bring back a variegated set of samples that can address the range of scientific objetives for a MRSR mission to Mars there needs to be considerable analysis done on board the rover. Furthermore, the discrepancy between the amount of sample gathered and the amount to be returned suggests that there needs to be some method of choosing the optimal set of samples. This type of analysis will require pristine material-unaltered by the drilling process. Since the core drill thermally and mechanically alters the outer diameter (about 10 pct) of the core sample, this outer area cannot be used. The primary function of the core handling device is to extract subsamples from the core and to position these subsamples, and the core itself if needed, with respect to the various analytical instruments that can be used to perform these analyses.

Potential High Priority Subaerial Environments for Mars Sample Return

Science.gov (United States)

iMOST Team; Bishop, J. L.; Horgan, B.; Benning, L. G.; Carrier, B. L.; Hausrath, E. M.; Altieri, F.; Amelin, Y.; Ammannito, E.; Anand, M.; Beaty, D. W.; Borg, L. E.; Boucher, D.; Brucato, J. R.; Busemann, H.; Campbell, K. A.; Czaja, A. D.; Debaille, V.; Des Marais, D. J.; Dixon, M.; Ehlmann, B. L.; Farmer, J. D.; Fernandez-Remolar, D. C.; Fogarty, J.; Glavin, D. P.; Goreva, Y. S.; Grady, M. M.; Hallis, L. J.; Harrington, A. D.; Herd, C. D. K.; Humayun, M.; Kleine, T.; Kleinhenz, J.; Mangold, N.; Mackelprang, R.; Mayhew, L. E.; McCubbin, F. M.; Mccoy, J. T.; McLennan, S. M.; McSween, H. Y.; Moser, D. E.; Moynier, F.; Mustard, J. F.; Niles, P. B.; Ori, G. G.; Raulin, F.; Rettberg, P.; Rucker, M. A.; Schmitz, N.; Sefton-Nash, E.; Sephton, M. A.; Shaheen, R.; Shuster, D. L.; Siljestrom, S.; Smith, C. L.; Spry, J. A.; Steele, A.; Swindle, T. D.; ten Kate, I. L.; Tosca, N. J.; Usui, T.; Van Kranendonk, M. J.; Wadhwa, M.; Weiss, B. P.; Werner, S. C.; Westall, F.; Wheeler, R. M.; Zipfel, J.; Zorzano, M. P.

2018-04-01

The highest priority subaerial environments for Mars Sample Return include subaerial weathering (paleosols, periglacial/glacial, and rock coatings/rinds), wetlands (mineral precipitates, redox environments, and salt ponds), or cold spring settings.

Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) studies of returned comet nucleus samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsay, Fundow; Kim, S.S.; Liang, R.H.

1989-01-01

The most important objective of the Comet Nucleus Sample Returm Mission is to return samples which could reflect formation conditions and evolutionary processes in the early solar nebula. It is expected that the returned samples will consist of fine-grained silicate materials mixed with ices composed of simple molecules such as H 2 O, NH 3 , CH 4 as well as organics and/or more complex compounds. Because of the exposure to ionizing radiation from cosmic-ray, gamma-ray, and solar wind protons at low temperature, free radicals are expected to be formed and trapped in the solid ice matrices. The kind of trapped radical species together with their concentration and thermal stability can be used as a dosimeter as well as a geothermometer to determine thermal and radiation histories as well as outgassing and other possible alternation effects since the nucleus material was formed. Since free radicals that are known to contain unpaired electrons are all paramagnetic in nature, they can be readily detected and characterized in their native form by the Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) method. In fact, ESR has been shown to be a non-destructive, highly sensitive tool for the detection and characterization of paramagnetic, ferromagnetic, and radiation damage centers in terrestrial and extraterrestrial geological samples. The potential use of ESR as an effective method in the study of returned comet nucleus samples, in particular, in the analysis of fine-grained solid state icy samples is discussed

The Ion Propulsion System for the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Herman, Daniel A.; Santiago, Walter; Kamhawi, Hani; Polk, James E.; Snyder, John Steven; Hofer, Richard; Sekerak, Michael

2016-01-01

The Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission is a Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Demonstration Mission (ARRM) whose main objectives are to develop and demonstrate a high-power solar electric propulsion capability for the Agency and return an asteroidal mass for rendezvous and characterization in a companion human-crewed mission. This high-power solar electric propulsion capability, or an extensible derivative of it, has been identified as a critical part of NASA's future beyond-low-Earth-orbit, human-crewed exploration plans. This presentation presents the conceptual design of the ARRM ion propulsion system, the status of the NASA in-house thruster and power processing development activities, the status of the planned technology maturation for the mission through flight hardware delivery, and the status of the mission formulation and spacecraft acquisition.

Internal gravity, self-energy, and disruption of comets and asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Dobrovolskis, Anthony R.; Korycansky, D. G.

2018-03-01

The internal gravity and self-gravitational energy of a comet, asteroid, or small moon have applications to their geophysics, including their formation, evolution, cratering, and disruption, the stresses and strains inside such objects, sample return, eventual asteroid mining, and planetary defense strategies for potentially hazardous objects. This paper describes the relation of an object's self-energy to its collisional disruption energy, and shows how to determine an object's self-energy from its internal gravitational potential. Any solid object can be approximated to any desired accuracy by a polyhedron of sufficient complexity. An analytic formula is known for the gravitational potential of any homogeneous polyhedron, but it is widely believed that this formula applies only on the surface or outside of the object. Here we show instead that this formula applies equally well inside the object. We have used these formulae to develop a numerical code which evaluates the self-energy of any homogeneous polyhedron, along with the gravitational potential and attraction both inside and outside of the object, as well as the slope of its surface. Then we use our code to find the internal, external, and surface gravitational fields of the Platonic solids, asteroid (216) Kleopatra, and comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, as well as their surface slopes and their self-gravitational energies. We also present simple spherical, ellipsoidal, cuboidal, and duplex models of Kleopatra and comet 67P, and show how to generalize our methods to inhomogeneous objects and magnetic fields. At present, only the self-energies of spheres, ellipsoids, and cuboids (boxes) are known analytically (or semi-analytically). The Supplementary Material contours the central potential and self-energy of homogeneous ellipsoids and cuboids of all aspect ratios, and also analytically the self-gravitational energy of a "duplex" consisting of two coupled spheres. The duplex is a good model for "contact binary

Is Mars Sample Return Required Prior to Sending Humans to Mars?

Science.gov (United States)

Carr, Michael; Abell, Paul; Allwood, Abigail; Baker, John; Barnes, Jeff; Bass, Deborah; Beaty, David; Boston, Penny; Brinkerhoff, Will; Budney, Charles;

Building on the Cornerstone: Destinations for Nearside Sample Return

Science.gov (United States)

Lawrence, S. J.; Jolliff, B. L.; Draper, D.; Stopar, J. D.; Petro, N. E.; Cohen, B. A.; Speyerer, E. J.; Gruener, J. E.

2016-01-01

Discoveries from LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) have transformed our knowledge of the Moon, but LRO's instruments were originally designed to collect the measurements required to enable future lunar surface exploration. Compelling science questions and critical resources make the Moon a key destination for future human and robotic exploration. Lunar surface exploration, including rovers and other landed missions, must be part of a balanced planetary science and exploration portfolio. Among the highest planetary exploration priorities is the collection of new samples and their return to Earth for more comprehensive analysis than can be done in-situ. The Moon is the closest and most accessible location to address key science questions through targeted sample return. The Moon is the only other planet from which we have contextualized samples, yet critical issues need to be addressed: we lack important details of the Moon's early and recent geologic history, the full compositional and age ranges of its crust, and its bulk composition.

Characterization of the Surface Properties of MUSES-C/Hayabusa Spacecraft Target Asteroid 25143 Itokawa (1998 SF36)

Science.gov (United States)

Lederer, S. M.; Domingue, D. L.; Vilas, F.; Abe, M.; Farnham, T. L.; Jarvis, K. S.; Lowry, S. C.; Ohba, Y.; Weissman, P. R.; French, L. M.

2004-01-01

Several spacecraft missions have recently targeted asteroids to study their morphologies and physical properties (e.g. Galileo, NEAR Shoemaker), and more are planned. MUSES-C is a Japanese mission designed to rendezvous with a near-Earth asteroid (NEA). The MUSES-C spacecraft, Hayabusa, was launched successfully in May 2003. It will rendezvous with its target asteroid in 2005, and return samples to the Earth in 2007. Its target, 25143 Itokawa (1998 SF36), made a close approach to the Earth in 2001. We collected an extensive ground-based database of broadband photometry obtained during this time, which maximized the phase angle coverage, to characterize this target in preparation for the mission. Our project was designed to capitalize on the broadband UBVRI photometric observations taken with a series of telescopes, instrumentation, and observers. Photometry and spectrophotometry of Itokawa were acquired at Lowell, McDonald, Steward, Palomar, Table Mountain and Kiso Observatories. The photometric data sets were combined to calculate Hapke model parameters of the surface material of Itokawa, and examine the solar-corrected broadband color characteristics of the asteroid. Broadband photometry of an object can be used to: (1) determine its colors and thereby contribute to the understanding of its surface composition and taxonomic class, and (2) infer global physical surface properties of the target body. We present both colors from UBVRI observations of the MUSES-C target Itokawa, and physical properties derived by applying a Hapke model to the broadband BVRI photometry.

THE ORIGIN OF ASTEROID 101955 (1999 RQ36)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campins, Humberto; Morbidelli, Alessandro; Tsiganis, Kleomenis; De Leon, Julia; Licandro, Javier; Lauretta, Dante

2010-01-01

Near-Earth asteroid (NEA) 101955 (1999 RQ 36 ; henceforth RQ36) is especially accessible to spacecraft and is the primary target of NASA's OSIRIS-REx sample return mission; it is also a potentially hazardous asteroid. We combine dynamical and spectral information to identify the most likely main-belt origin of RQ36 and we conclude that it is the Polana family, located at a semimajor axis of about 2.42 AU. We also conclude that the Polana family may be the most important inner-belt source of low-albedo NEAs. These conclusions are based on the following results. (1) Dynamical evidence strongly favors an inner-belt, low-inclination (2.15 AU 0 ) origin, suggesting the ν 6 resonance as the preferred (95% probability) delivery route. (2) This region is dominated by the Nysa and Polana families. (3) The Polana family is characterized by low albedos and B-class spectra or colors, the same albedo and spectral class as RQ36. (4) The Sloan Digital Sky Survey colors show that the Polana family is the branch of the Nysa-Polana complex that extends toward the ν 6 resonance; furthermore, the Polana family has delivered objects of the size of RQ36 and larger into the ν 6 resonance. (5) A quantitative comparison of visible and near-infrared spectra does not yield a unique match for RQ36; however, it is consistent with a compositional link between RQ36 and the Polana family.

78 FR 49296 - Centennial Challenges 2014 Sample Return Robot Challenge

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-13

... NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION [Notice 13-093] Centennial Challenges 2014 Sample... Centennial Challenges 2014 Sample Return Robot Challenge. SUMMARY: This notice is issued in accordance with... compete may register. Centennial Challenges is a program of prize competitions to stimulate innovation in...

Classification of IRAS asteroids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tedesco, E.F.; Matson, D.L.; Veeder, G.J.

1989-01-01

Albedos and spectral reflectances are essential for classifying asteroids. For example, classes E, M and P are indistinguishable without albedo data. Colorometric data are available for about 1000 asteroids but, prior to IRAS, albedo data was available for only about 200. IRAS broke this bottleneck by providing albedo data on nearly 2000 asteroids. Hence, excepting absolute magnitudes, the albedo and size are now the most common asteroid physical parameters known. In this chapter the authors present the results of analyses of IRAS-derived asteroid albedos, discuss their application to asteroid classification, and mention several studies which might be done to exploit further this data set

Polarimetric survey of main-belt asteroids. V. The unusual polarimetric behavior of V-type asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Gil-Hutton, R.; López-Sisterna, C.; Calandra, M. F.

2017-03-01

Aims: We present the results of a polarimetric survey of main-belt asteroids at Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito (CASLEO), San Juan, Argentina. The aims of this survey are to increase the database of asteroid polarimetry, to estimate diversity in polarimetric properties of asteroids that belong to different taxonomic classes, and to search for objects that exhibit anomalous polarimetric properties. Methods: The data were obtained using the CASPROF and CASPOL polarimeters at the 2.15 m telescope. The CASPROF polarimeter is a two-hole aperture polarimeter with rapid modulation and CASPOL is a polarimeter based on a CCD detector, which allows us to observe fainter objects with better signal-to-noise ratio. Results: The survey began in 1995 and data on a large sample of asteroids were obtained until 2012. A second period began in 2013 using a polarimeter with a more sensitive detector in order to study small asteroids, families, and special taxonomic groups. We obtained 55 polarimetric measurements for 28 V-type main belt asteroids, all of them polarimetrically observed for the first time. The data obtained in this survey let us find polarimetric parameters for (1459) Magnya and for a group of 11 small V-type objects with similar polarimetric behavior. These polarization curves are unusual since they show a shallow minimum and a small inversion angle in comparison with (4) Vesta, although they have a steeper slope at α0. This polarimetric behavior could be explained by differences in the regoliths of these asteroids. The observations of (2579) Spartacus, and perhaps also (3944) Halliday, indicate a inversion angle larger than 24-25°. Based on observations carried out at the Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito, operated under agreement between the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de la República Argentina and the National Universities of La Plata, Córdoba, and San Juan.

In-Situ Sampling Analysis of a Jupiter Trojan Asteroid by High Resolution Mass Spectrometry in the Solar Power Sail Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Kebukawa, Y.; Aoki, J.; Ito, M.; Kawai, Y.; Okada, T.; Matsumoto, J.; Yano, H.; Yurimoto, H.; Terada, K.; Toyoda, M.; Yabuta, H.; Nakamura, R.; Cottin, H.; Grand, N.; Mori, O.

2017-12-01

The Solar Power Sail (SPS) mission is one of candidates for the upcoming strategic middle-class space exploration to demonstrate the first outer Solar System journey of Japan. The mission concept includes in-situ sampling analysis of the surface and subsurface (up to 1 m) materials of a Jupiter Trojan asteroid using high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). The candidates for the HRMS are multi-turn time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MULTUM) type and Cosmorbitrap type. We plan to analyze isotopic and elemental compositions of volatile materials from organic matter, hydrated minerals, and ice (if any), in order to understand origin and evolution of the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. It will provide insights into planet formation/migration theories, evolution and distribution of volatiles in the Solar System, and missing link between asteroids and comets on evolutional. The HRMS system allows to measure H, N, C, O isotopic compositions and elemental compositions of molecules prepared by various pre-MS procedures including stepwise heating up to 600ºC, gas chromatography (GC), and high-temperature pyrolysis with catalyst to decompose the samples into simple gaseous molecules (e.g., H2, CO, and N2) for isotopic ratio analysis. The required mass resolution should be at least 30,000 for analyzing isotopic ratios for simple gaseous molecules. For elemental compositions, mass accuracy of 10 ppm is required to determine elemental compositions for molecules with m/z up to 300 (as well as compound specific isotopic compositions for smaller molecules). Our planned analytical sequences consist of three runs for both surface and subsurface samples. In addition, `sniff mode' which simply introduces environmental gaseous molecules into a HRMS will be done by the system.

Asteroid rotation rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Binzel, R.P.; Farinella, P.

1989-01-01

Within the last decade the data base of asteroid rotation parameters (rotation rates and lightcurve amplitudes) has become sufficiently large to identify some definite rends and properties which can help us to interpret asteroid collisional evolution. Many significant correlations are found between rotation parameters and diameter, with distinct changes occurring near 125 km. The size range, which is also the diameter above which self-gravity may become important, perhaps represents a division between surviving primordial asteroids and collisional fragments. A Maxwellian is able to fit the observed rotation rate distributions of asteroids with D>125 km, implying that their rotation rates may be determined by collisional evolution. Asteroids with D<125 km show an excess of slow rotators and their non-Maxwellian distributions suggests that their rotation rates are more strongly influenced by other processes, such as the distribution resulting from their formation in catastrophic disruption events. Other correlations observed in the data set include different mean rotation rates for C, S and M type asteroids implying that their surface spectra are indicative of bulk properties

Reachable Sets for Multiple Asteroid Sample Return Missions

Science.gov (United States)

2005-12-01

Vtdot Massdot Sc al ed U ni ts Minimum Derivative Values Maximum Derivative Values Figure 15 Actual Range of State Derivates When these plots are...0.0563 -0.0016 Vtdot -0.0065 -0.0579 0.0119 0.0070 Massdot -0.0148 -0.0148 -0.0075 -0.0075 Control low bound low guess upper guess upper

Asteroid taxonomy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tholen, D.J.

1989-01-01

The spectral reflectivity of asteroid surfaces over the wavelength range of 0.3 to 1.1 μm can be used to classify these objects onto several broad groups with similar spectral characteristics. The three most recently developed taxonomies group the asteroids into 9, 11 or 14 different classes, depending on the technique used to perform the analysis. The distribution of the taxonomic classes shows that darker and redder objects become more dominant at larger heliocentric distances, while the rare asteroid types are found more frequently among the small objects of the planet-crossing population

The CASLEO Polarimetric Survey of Main Belt Asteroids: Updated results

Science.gov (United States)

Gil-Hutton, R.; Cellino, A.; Cañada-Assandri, M.

2011-10-01

We present updated results of the polarimetric survey of main-belt asteroids at Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito (Casleo), San Juan, Argentina, using the 2.15 m telescope and the Torino and CASPROF polarimeters. The goals of this survey are to increase the database of asteroid polarimetry, to estimate diversity in polarimetric properties of asteroids belonging to different taxonomic classes, and to search for objects that exhibit anomalous polarimetric properties. The survey began in 2003, and data for a sample of more than 170 asteroids have been obtained, most of them having been polarimetrically observed for the first time. Using these data we find phase-polarization curves and polarimetric parameters for several taxonomic classes.

Trojan and Hilda asteroid lightcurves. I - Anomalously elongated shapes among Trojans (and Hildas?)

Science.gov (United States)

Hartmann, William K.; Binzel, Richard P.; Tholen, David J.; Cruikshank, Dale P.; Goguen, Jay

1988-01-01

A comparison of the available sample of lightcurves for 26 Trojan and Hilda asteroids with belt asteroid lightcurves shows the former to be distinguished by a higher incidence of high amplitudes rgan belt asteroids of comparable size, suggesting more elongated shapes; they currently have, moreover, only a few percent of the main-belt asteroids' collision frequency. A more modest collisional evolution that may have affected the relative degree of fragmentation of these bodies, and thus their shapes, is inferred.

Solar-phase-angle effects on the taxonomic classification of asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Carvano, J.; Davallos, J.

2014-07-01

Asteroid taxonomy is the effort of grouping asteroids into classes based on similarities of a number of their observational properties. The most used properties include measurements of their spectral reflectance (by means of low-resolution spectra, spectro-photometry, or colors), and geometric albedo. The usefulness of asteroid taxonomic classes derived in this way relies on the assumption that the classes bear some correspondence to the mineralogy of the asteroids, and on the fact that such classification can be made using types of observations that presently are available to a large number of asteroids. Therefore, asteroid taxonomy can be used to infer trends in the distribution of compositions in the main belt and other populations, as an additional parameter in defining asteroid families, and as a selection tool to identify candidates for more detailed observations. However, the fact that the correspondence between taxonomic class and composition is far from perfect is still sometimes overlooked in the literature. Indeed, although a taxonomic classification narrows down the possible mineralogies of a given asteroid, it will seldom point univocally to one particular mineralogy. This happens for a number of reasons, some linked to the intrinsic difficulty involved in the remote characterization of the mineralogy of an asteroid, since it depends on the presence of absorption bands in its reflectance spectrum which may be absent or not completely sampled by the observations used to derive taxonomy. Other problem here is the exposure of the material on the surface of the asteroid to space-weathering effects, such as solar wind implantation and micro-meteorite bombardment, which can change the optical properties of the material. Finally, the overall shape of the reflectance spectrum of an asteroid is also affected by the geometry of the observation, as well as by its shape. In this work, we analyze how the classification of asteroids observed by the Sloan Digital Sky

NASA's Human Mission to a Near-Earth Asteroid: Landing on a Moving Target

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Jeffrey H.; Lincoln, William P.; Weisbin, Charles R.

2011-01-01

This paper describes a Bayesian approach for comparing the productivity and cost-risk tradeoffs of sending versus not sending one or more robotic surveyor missions prior to a human mission to land on an asteroid. The expected value of sample information based on productivity combined with parametric variations in the prior probability an asteroid might be found suitable for landing were used to assess the optimal number of spacecraft and asteroids to survey. The analysis supports the value of surveyor missions to asteroids and indicates one launch with two spacecraft going simultaneously to two independent asteroids appears optimal.

Investigation of Phase Transition-Based Tethered Systems for Small Body Sample Capture

Science.gov (United States)

Quadrelli, Marco; Backes, Paul; Wilkie, Keats; Giersch, Lou; Quijano, Ubaldo; Scharf, Daniel; Mukherjee, Rudranarayan

2009-01-01

This paper summarizes the modeling, simulation, and testing work related to the development of technology to investigate the potential that shape memory actuation has to provide mechanically simple and affordable solutions for delivering assets to a surface and for sample capture and possible return to Earth. We investigate the structural dynamics and controllability aspects of an adaptive beam carrying an end-effector which, by changing equilibrium phases is able to actively decouple the end-effector dynamics from the spacecraft dynamics during the surface contact phase. Asset delivery and sample capture and return are at the heart of several emerging potential missions to small bodies, such as asteroids and comets, and to the surface of large bodies, such as Titan.

Lessons Learned from Preparing OSIRIS-REx Spectral Analog Samples for Bennu

Science.gov (United States)

Schrader, D. L.; McCoy, T. J.; Cody, G. D.; King, A. J.; Schofield, P. F.; Russell, S. S.; Connolly, H. C., Jr.; Keller, L. P.; Donaldson Hanna, K.; Bowles, N.;

The Importance of Contamination Knowledge in Curation - Insights into Mars Sample Return

Science.gov (United States)

Harrington, A. D.; Calaway, M. J.; Regberg, A. B.; Mitchell, J. L.; Fries, M. D.; Zeigler, R. A.; McCubbin, F. M.

2018-01-01

The Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), in Houston, TX (henceforth Curation Office) manages the curation of extraterrestrial samples returned by NASA missions and shared collections from international partners, preserving their integrity for future scientific study while providing the samples to the international community in a fair and unbiased way. The Curation Office also curates flight and non-flight reference materials and other materials from spacecraft assembly (e.g., lubricants, paints and gases) of sample return missions that would have the potential to cross-contaminate a present or future NASA astromaterials collection.

Asteroids astronomical and geological bodies

CERN Document Server

Burbine, Thomas H

2016-01-01

Asteroid science is a fundamental topic in planetary science and is key to furthering our understanding of planetary formation and the evolution of the Solar System. Ground-based observations and missions have provided a wealth of new data in recent years, and forthcoming missions promise further exciting results. This accessible book presents a comprehensive introduction to asteroid science, summarising the astronomical and geological characteristics of asteroids. The interdisciplinary nature of asteroid science is reflected in the broad range of topics covered, including asteroid and meteorite classification, chemical and physical properties of asteroids, observational techniques, cratering, and the discovery of asteroids and how they are named. Other chapters discuss past, present and future space missions and the threat that these bodies pose for Earth. Based on an upper-level course on asteroids and meteorites taught by the author, this book is ideal for students, researchers and professional scientists ...

Multi-Wavelength Observations of Asteroid 2100 Ra-Shalom: Visible, Infrared, and Thermal Spectroscopy Results

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Beth Ellen; Shepard, M.; Bus, S. J.; Vilas, F.; Rivkin, A. S.; Lim, L.; Lederer, S.; Jarvis, K.; Shah, S.; McConnochie, T.

2004-01-01

The August 2003 apparition of asteroid 2100 Ra-Shalom brought together a collaboration of observers with the goal of obtaining rotationally resolved multiwavelength spectra at each of 5 facilities: infrared spectra at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (Clark and Shepard), radar images at Arecibo (Shepard and Clark), thermal infrared spectra at Palomar (Lim, McConnochie and Bell), visible spectra at McDonald Observatory (Vilas, Lederer and Jarvis), and visible lightcurves at Ondrojev Observatory (Pravec). The radar data was to be used to develop a high spatial resolution physical model to be used in conjunction with spectral data to investigate compositional and textural properties on the near surface of Ra Shalom as a function of rotation phase. This was the first coordinated multi-wavelength investigation of any Aten asteroid. There are many reasons to study near-Earth asteroid (NEA) 2100 Ra-Shalom: 1) It has a controversial classification (is it a C- or K-type object)? 2) There would be interesting dynamical ramifications if Ra-Shalom is a K-type because most K-types come from the Eos family and there are no known dynamical pathways from Eos to the Aten population. 3) The best available spectra obtained previously may indicate a heterogeneous surface (most asteroids appear to be fairly homogeneous). 4) Ra-Shalom thermal observations obtained previously indicated a lack of regolith, minimizing the worry of space weathering effects in the spectra. 5) Radar observations obtained previously hinted at interesting surface structures. 6) Ra-Shalom is one of the largest Aten objects. And 7) Ra-Shalom is on a short list of proposed NEAs for spacecraft encounters and possible sample returns. Preliminary results from the visible, infrared, and thermal spectroscopy measurements will be presented here.

Cleaning and Cleanliness Verification Techniques for Mars Returned Sample Handling

Science.gov (United States)

Mickelson, E. T.; Lindstrom, D. J.; Allton, J. H.; Hittle, J. D.

2002-01-01

Precision cleaning and cleanliness verification techniques are examined as a subset of a comprehensive contamination control strategy for a Mars sample return mission. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Physical studies of asteroids. XXXII. Rotation periods and UBVRI-colours for selected asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Piironen, J.; Lagerkvist, C.-I.; Erikson, A.; Oja, T.; Magnusson, P.; Festin, L.; Nathues, A.; Gaul, M.; Velichko, F.

1998-03-01

We present lightcurves of selected asteroids. Most of the asteroids were included to obtain refined spin periods. Enhanced periods were determined for 11 Parthenope, 306 Unitas and 372 Palma. We confirmed the spin periods of 8 Flora, 13 Egeria, 71 Niobe, 233 Asterope, 291 Alice, 409 Aspasia, 435 Ella and 512 Taurinensis. We determined also BV-colours for most of the included asteroids and UBVRI-colours for a total of 22 asteroids.

EURO-CARES: European Roadmap for a Sample Return Curation Facility and Planetary Protection Implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Brucato, John Robert

2016-07-01

A mature European planetary exploration program and evolving sample return mission plans gathers the interest of a wider scientific community. The interest is generated from studying extraterrestrial samples in the laborato-ry providing new opportunities to address fundamental issues on the origin and evolution of the Solar System, on the primordial cosmochemistry, and on the nature of the building blocks of terrestrial planets and on the origin of life. Major space agencies are currently planning for missions that will collect samples from a variety of Solar Sys-tem environments, from primitive (carbonaceous) small bodies, from the Moon, Mars and its moons and, final-ly, from icy moons of the outer planets. A dedicated sample return curation facility is seen as an essential re-quirement for the receiving, assessment, characterization and secure preservation of the collected extraterrestrial samples and potentially their safe distribution to the scientific community. EURO-CARES is a European Commission study funded under the Horizon-2020 program. The strategic objec-tive of EURO-CARES is to create a roadmap for the implementation of a European Extraterrestrial Sample Cu-ration Facility. The facility has to provide safe storage and handling of extraterrestrial samples and has to enable the preliminary characterization in order to achieve the required effectiveness and collaborative outcomes for the whole international scientific community. For example, samples returned from Mars could pose a threat on the Earth's biosphere if any living extraterrestrial organism are present in the samples. Thus planetary protection is an essential aspect of all Mars sample return missions that will affect the retrival and transport from the point of return, sample handling, infrastructure methodology and management of a future curation facility. Analysis of the state of the art of Planetary Protection technology shows there are considerable possibilities to define and develop

OHB's Exploration Capabilities Overview Relevant to Mars Sample Return Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Jaime, A.; Gerth, I.; Rohrbeck, M.; Scheper, M.

2018-04-01

The presentation will give an overview to all the OHB past and current projects that are relevant to the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, including some valuable lessons learned applicable to the upcoming MSR mission.

Asteroid rotation. IV

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harris, A.W.; Young, J.W.

1983-01-01

The results from the year 1979 of an ongoing program of asteroid photometry at Table Mountain Observatory are presented. The results for 53 asteroids are summarized in a table, showing the number, name, opposition date, taxonomic class, diameter, absolute magnitude, mean absolute magnitude at zero phase angle and values of the absolute magnitude and linear phase coefficient derived from it, the rotation period in hours, peak-to-peak amplitude of variation, difference between mean and maximum brightness, and reliability index. Another table presents data on aspect and comparison stars, including brightness and distance data. Reliable rotation periods are reported for 22 asteroids for which no previous values are known. For seven asteroids, periods are reported which are revisions of previously reported values

Phobos/Deimos sample return via solar sail.

Science.gov (United States)

Matloff, Gregory L; Taylor, Travis; Powell, Conley; Moton, Tryshanda

2005-12-01

A sample-return mission to the Martian satellites using a con-temporary solar sail for all post-Earth-escape propulsion is proposed. The 0.015 kg/m(2) areal mass-thickness sail unfurls after launch and injection onto a Mars-bound Hohmann-transfer ellipse. Structure and payload increase spacecraft areal mass thickness to 0.028 kg/m(2). During the Mars encounter, the sail functions as a parachute in the outer atmosphere of Mars to accomplish aerocapture. On-board thrusters or the sail maneuver the spacecraft into an orbit with periapsis near Mars and apoapsis near Phobos. The orbit is circularized for Phobos-rendezvous; surface samples are collected. The sail then raises the orbit for Deimos-rendezvous and sample collection. The sail next places the spacecraft on an Earth-bound Hohmann-transfer ellipse. During Earth encounter, the sail accomplishes Earth-aerocapture or partially decelerates the sample container for entry into the Earth's atmosphere. Mission mass budget is about 218 grams and mission duration is less than five years.

JSC Advanced Curation: Research and Development for Current Collections and Future Sample Return Mission Demands

Science.gov (United States)

Fries, M. D.; Allen, C. C.; Calaway, M. J.; Evans, C. A.; Stansbery, E. K.

2015-01-01

Curation of NASA's astromaterials sample collections is a demanding and evolving activity that supports valuable science from NASA missions for generations, long after the samples are returned to Earth. For example, NASA continues to loan hundreds of Apollo program samples to investigators every year and those samples are often analyzed using instruments that did not exist at the time of the Apollo missions themselves. The samples are curated in a manner that minimizes overall contamination, enabling clean, new high-sensitivity measurements and new science results over 40 years after their return to Earth. As our exploration of the Solar System progresses, upcoming and future NASA sample return missions will return new samples with stringent contamination control, sample environmental control, and Planetary Protection requirements. Therefore, an essential element of a healthy astromaterials curation program is a research and development (R&D) effort that characterizes and employs new technologies to maintain current collections and enable new missions - an Advanced Curation effort. JSC's Astromaterials Acquisition & Curation Office is continually performing Advanced Curation research, identifying and defining knowledge gaps about research, development, and validation/verification topics that are critical to support current and future NASA astromaterials sample collections. The following are highlighted knowledge gaps and research opportunities.

Modeling and Testing of Phase Transition-Based Deployable Systems for Small Body Sample Capture

Science.gov (United States)

Quadrelli, Marco; Backes, Paul; Wilkie, Keats; Giersch, Lou; Quijano, Ubaldo; Keim, Jason; Mukherjee, Rudranarayan

2009-01-01

This paper summarizes the modeling, simulation, and testing work related to the development of technology to investigate the potential that shape memory actuation has to provide mechanically simple and affordable solutions for delivering assets to a surface and for sample capture and return. We investigate the structural dynamics and controllability aspects of an adaptive beam carrying an end-effector which, by changing equilibrium phases is able to actively decouple the end-effector dynamics from the spacecraft dynamics during the surface contact phase. Asset delivery and sample capture and return are at the heart of several emerging potential missions to small bodies, such as asteroids and comets, and to the surface of large bodies, such as Titan.

Asteroid Satellites

Science.gov (United States)

Merline, W. J.

2001-11-01

Discovery and study of small satellites of asteroids or double asteroids can yield valuable information about the intrinsic properties of asteroids themselves and about their history and evolution. Determination of the orbits of these moons can provide precise masses of the primaries, and hence reliable estimates of the fundamental property of bulk density. This reveals much about the composition and structure of the primary and will allow us to make comparisons between, for example, asteroid taxonomic type and our inventory of meteorites. The nature and prevalence of these systems will also give clues as to the collisional environment in which they formed, and have further implications for the role of collisions in shaping our solar system. A decade ago, binary asteroids were more of a theoretical curiosity. In 1993, the Galileo spacecraft allowed the first undeniable detection of an asteroid moon, with the discovery of Dactyl, a small moon of Ida. Since that time, and particularly in the last year, the number of known binaries has risen dramatically. Previously odd-shaped and lobate near-Earth asteroids, observed by radar, have given way to signatures indicating, almost certainly, that at least four NEAs are binary systems. The tell-tale lightcurves of several other NEAs reveal a high likelihood of being double. Indications are that among the NEAs, there may be a binary frequency of several tens of percent. Among the main-belt asteroids, we now know of 6 confirmed binary systems, although their overall frequency is likely to be low, perhaps a few percent. The detections have largely come about because of significant advances in adaptive optics systems on large telescopes, which can now reduce the blurring of the Earth's atmosphere to compete with the spatial resolution of space-based imaging (which itself, via HST, is now contributing valuable observations). Most of these binary systems have similarities, but there are important exceptions. Searches among other

Do asteroids have satellites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weidenschilling, S.J.; Paolicchi, P.; Zappala, V.

1989-01-01

A substantial body of indirect evidence suggests that some asteroids have satelities, although none has been detected unambiguously. Collisions between asteroids provide physically plausible mechanisms for the production of binaries, but these operate with low probability; only a small minority of asteroids are likely to have satellites. The abundance of binary asteroids can constrain the collisional history of the entire belt population. The allowed angular momentum of binaries and their rate of tidal evolution limit separations to no more than a few tens of the primary's radii. Their expected properties are consistent with failure to detect them by current imaging techniques

The stability of some asteroids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vicente, R.O.

1983-01-01

The utilization of two different stability criteria, namely, Hill's modified stability criterium and the method of surface of section, has been employed for asteroid orbits. The idea is to compute different criteria of stability for the same asteroids in order to compare the results and see the practical interest of the computations for researches about evolutionary trends of individual asteroids, groups and families of asteroids. (Auth.)

Precautionary Principle and Mars Sample Return

Science.gov (United States)

Arnould, Jacques

Many space missions have today as an aim the exploration and the knowledge of the planet Mars; consequently, the return of Martian samples seems one of the next possible stages, at the horizon of about fifteen years. Devoted in the search of traces of life, passed or presents, such a mission presents a true stake not only from the scientific point of view but also from the ethical. Right now, the COSPAR specified the precautions to be taken to avoid or, at the very least, to limit the risk of contamination of the terrestrial biosphere by pathogenic the hitherto unknown ones. Are these recommendations sufficient? Do they concern only the scientific prudence or take truly counts of the good of humanity and the life on Earth? In the final analysis, is the incurred risk, even weak, to endanger this life worth the sorrow of it? Hitherto confined with the scientific circles of astronomy and astrobiology, this questioning could move the public opinion and this one would undoubtedly call some with the principle of precaution. In what this recourse would be relevant? The precaution aims indeed the hypothetical risks, not yet confirmed scientifically, but of which the possibility can be identified starting from empirical and scientific knowledge; such is well the case. But is it for as much possible to apply this principle to the case of the Martian samples, insofar as the objective of such a mission remains for the strictly scientific moment? Is it possible to manage the risks in the same manner when it is a question of appropriation and exploitation of the natural resources and energy (GMO, nuclear energy, etc.) and when it acts, in the case of Mars, that only search of the knowledge? How to manage the fundamental difference between the risks voluntarily taken and arbitrarily imposed, clarified and keep silent? The case of the return of the samples leads to the borders of the contemporary interrogations on the stakes and the benefits of science, on the share of risk

Introduction to the Asteroids II data base

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tedesco, E.F.

1989-01-01

The Asteroids II data base presented is a compilation of asteroid data. Included are asteroid names and discovery circumstances, proper elements and family identifications, asteroid lightcurve parameters, asteroid pole determinations, taxonomic classes, absolute magnitudes and slope parameters, UBV color indices, and albedos and diameters from the IRAS Asteroid and Comet Survey

77 FR 70835 - Centennial Challenges 2013 Sample Return Robot Challenge

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-27

... NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION Centennial Challenges 2013 Sample Return Robot... Challenge is scheduled and teams that wish to compete may register. Centennial Challenges is a program of... Challenge, please visit: http://challenge.wpi.edu . For general information on the NASA Centennial...

HIGH ECLIPTIC LATITUDE SURVEY FOR SMALL MAIN-BELT ASTEROIDS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Terai, Tsuyoshi; Takahashi, Jun; Itoh, Yoichi

2013-01-01

Main-belt asteroids have been continuously colliding with one another since they were formed. Their size distribution is primarily determined by the size dependence of asteroid strength against catastrophic impacts. The strength scaling law as a function of body size could depend on collision velocity, but the relationship remains unknown, especially under hypervelocity collisions comparable to 10 km s –1 . We present a wide-field imaging survey at an ecliptic latitude of about 25° for investigating the size distribution of small main-belt asteroids that have highly inclined orbits. The analysis technique allowing for efficient asteroid detections and high-accuracy photometric measurements provides sufficient sample data to estimate the size distribution of sub-kilometer asteroids with inclinations larger than 14°. The best-fit power-law slopes of the cumulative size distribution are 1.25 ± 0.03 in the diameter range of 0.6-1.0 km and 1.84 ± 0.27 in 1.0-3.0 km. We provide a simple size distribution model that takes into consideration the oscillations of the power-law slope due to the transition from the gravity-scaled regime to the strength-scaled regime. We find that the high-inclination population has a shallow slope of the primary components of the size distribution compared to the low-inclination populations. The asteroid population exposed to hypervelocity impacts undergoes collisional processes where large bodies have a higher disruptive strength and longer lifespan relative to tiny bodies than the ecliptic asteroids

COARSE: Convex Optimization based autonomous control for Asteroid Rendezvous and Sample Exploration, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Sample return missions, by nature, require high levels of spacecraft autonomy. Developments in hardware avionics have led to more capable real-time onboard computing...

Origin of the asteroid belt

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wetherill, G.W.

1989-01-01

Earlier work and concepts relevant to the origin of the asteroid belt are reviewed and considered in the context of the more general question of solar system origin. Several aspects of asteroidal origin by accumulation of smaller bodies have been addressed by new dynamic studies. Numerical and analytical solutions of the dynamical theory of planetesimal accumulation are characterized by a bifurcation into runaway and nonrunaway solutions. The differences in time scales resulting from runaway and nonrunaway growth can be more important than conventional time scale differences determined by heliocentric distances. This introduces new possibilities, e.g., planetary accumulation may be more rapid at the distance of Jupiter than in the asteroid belt, thus permitting Jupiter to control asteroidal growth. Although alternatives must be seriously considered, the most promising approach to asteroidal origin is one in which the initial surface density of the solar nebula varied smoothly between the terrestrial and giant-planet region. In the absence of external perturbations, it is found that runaway growth of excessively large asteroids would then occur on <1 Myr, but fairly modest external perturbations by Jupiter, Saturn or other perturbers, resulting in eccentricities ∼0.01 may quench runaways, truncate asteroidal growth at their present size, and then initiate the necessary loss of asteroidal material by mutual fragmentation

Compositional studies of primitive asteroids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vilas, F.

1988-01-01

The composition of primitive asteroids and their relationship to satellites in the solar system will be studied by analyzing existing narrowband charge coupled device (CCD) reflectance spectra, acquiring additional spectra of asteroids and small satellites in the 0.5 to 1.0 micrometer spectral range, and exploring possibilities for obtaining compositional information in the blue-UV spectral region. Comparison with laboratory spectra of terrestrial chlorites and serpentines (phyllosilicates) and the clay minerals found in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites will continue. During 1987, narrowband CCD reflectance spectra of 17 additional asteroids were acquired. These spectra and spectra of 34 other asteroids have been used primarily for two studies: weak absorption features similar to those due to Fe2(+) and Fe2(+) - Fe3(+) transitions in iron oxides f ound in terrestrial chlorites and serpentines and carbonaceous chondrites have been identified in some primitive asteroid spectra. There is a first indication that asteroids grouped by heliocentric distance show similar weak absorption features. Nonparametric statistics are being applied to test the hypothesis of discrete remnants of a gradation in composition of outer-belt asteroids

Candidate Binary Trojan and Hilda Asteroids from Rotational Light Curves

Science.gov (United States)

Sonnett, Sarah M.; Mainzer, Amy K.; Grav, Tommy; Masiero, Joseph R.; Bauer, James M.; Kramer, Emily A.

2017-10-01

Jovian Trojans (hereafter, Trojans) are asteroids in stable orbits at Jupiter's L4 and L5 Lagrange points, and Hilda asteroids are inwards of the Trojans in 3:2 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter. Due to their special dynamical properties, observationally constraining the formation location and dynamical histories of Trojans and HIldas offers key input for giant planet migration models. A fundamental parameter in assessing formation location is the bulk density - with low-density objects associated with an ice-rich formation environment in the outer solar system and high-density objects typically linked to the warmer inner solar system. Bulk density can only be directly measured during a close fly-by or by determining the mutual orbits of binary asteroid systems. With the aim of determining densities for a statistically significant sample of Trojans and Hildas, we are undertaking an observational campaign to confirm and characterize candidate binary asteroids published in Sonnett et al. (2015). These objects were flagged as binary candidates because their large NEOWISE brightness variations imply shapes so elongated that they are not likely explained by a singular equilibrium rubble pile and instead may be two elongated, gravitationally bound asteroids. We are obtaining densely sampled rotational light curves of these possible binaries to search for light curve features diagnostic of binarity and to determine the orbital properties of any confirmed binary systems by modeling the light curve. We compare the We present an update on this follow-up campaign and comment on future steps.

Quantitative Planetary Protection for Sample Return from Ocean Worlds

Science.gov (United States)

Neveu, Marc; Takano, Yoshinori; Porco, Carolyn; McKay, Christopher P.; Glavin, Daniel; Anbar, Ariel; Sherwood, Brent; Yano, Hajime

2016-07-01

Volcanism on ocean worlds [1,2] facilitates ocean sample return missions, enabling uniquely flexible, sensitive, and specific laboratory analyses on Earth to study how far chemistry has evolved in presumably habitable oceans [3,4]. Such mission concepts have yet to quantitatively address planetary protection (PP) for ocean worlds [3,4]. These harbor liquid water [5,6], metabolically useful energy [7], and organic matter to support life [8]. Ocean temperatures may not exceed the limit for life as we know it [9,10], they are shielded from exogenic radiation by kilometers of ice, and their material has likely not been naturally exchanged with Earth [11]. The above factors would place sample return missions in Cat. V - Restricted Earth Return [12,13]. Forward PP requirements for Europa [13] and other ocean worlds [14] require that the probability of "introduction of a single viable terrestrial microorganism into a liquid-water environment" be lower than 10 ^{-4}. This probability should be estimated from (F1) "bioburden at launch," (F2) "cruise survival for contaminating organisms," (F3) "organism survival in the radiation environment adjacent to the target," (F4) "the probability of encountering […] the target," (F5) "the probability of surviving landing/impact on the target," (F6) "mechanisms and timescales of transport to the subsurface," and (F7) "survival […] after subsurface transfer" [13,14]. The compliance of specific designs of known cost could be evaluated from measurements of molecular contaminants as robust and universal proxies for microbial particulates [15] (F1); known microbial radiation tolerance [16] and planetary radiation budgets [17] (F2-F3); trajectory design (F4); projected impact velocities [18] (F5); ice transport timescales [19] (F6), and biomass growth rates in ice [20] (F7). In contrast, current backward PP requirements are only qualitative. Current policy [13,15] prohibits "destructive impact upon return," and requires that (B1) "unless

A Howardite-Eucrite-Diogenite (HED) Meteorite Compendium: Summarizing Samples of ASteroid 4 Vesta in Preparation for the Dawn Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Garber, J. M.; Righter, K.

2011-01-01

The Howardite-Eucrite-Diogenite (HED) suite of achondritic meteorites, thought to originate from asteroid 4 Vesta, has recently been summarized into a meteorite compendium. This compendium will serve as a guide for researchers interested in further analysis of HEDs, and we expect that interest in these samples will greatly increase with the planned arrival of the Dawn Mission at Vesta in August 2011. The focus of this abstract/poster is to (1) introduce and describe HED samples from both historical falls and Antarctic finds, and (2) provide information on unique HED samples available for study from the Antarctic Meteorite Collection at JSC, including the vesicular eucrite PCA91007, the olivine diogenite EETA79002, and the paired ALH polymict eucrites.

Photometry of faint asteroids and satellites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Degewij, J.

1978-01-01

The smaller asteroids, having diameters of about 1 km, appear to rotate faster than do the larger asteroids (approximately 200 km diameter). Most of the bodies may be nearly spherical, probably due to a collisional erosion process in the Main Belt of asteroids. The distributions of diameter versus number were studied for low albedo (C, for carbonaceous) and high albedo (S, for silicaceous) type asteroids in the main belt, down to diameters of 25 km. Among the smaller bodies the S type asteroids are relatively more abundant, probably due to greater crushing strength for S type asteroids. This indicates that both optical types have also different properties in the interior of the body. Areas with slightly different reflectivity over the surface of an asteroid were detected; the rotational light variation of asteroid 4 (Vesta) was found to be caused by spots on its surface. Colorimetry and infrared radiometry of some Hilda asteroids, Trojans and the fainter satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, all having diameters between 100 and 200 km, show that a mixture of types exist. If some asteroids are nearly expended nuclei of comets that lost most of their volatile gaseous material, then their cometary activity is expected to be extinct or at least weak. (Auth.)

Asteroid-comet continuum objects in the solar system.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsieh, Henry H

2017-07-13

In this review presented at the Royal Society meeting, 'Cometary science after Rosetta', I present an overview of studies of small solar system objects that exhibit properties of both asteroids and comets (with a focus on so-called active asteroids). Sometimes referred to as 'transition objects', these bodies are perhaps more appropriately described as 'continuum objects', to reflect the notion that rather than necessarily representing actual transitional evolutionary states between asteroids and comets, they simply belong to the general population of small solar system bodies that happen to exhibit a continuous range of observational, physical and dynamical properties. Continuum objects are intriguing because they possess many of the properties that make classical comets interesting to study (e.g. relatively primitive compositions, ejection of surface and subsurface material into space where it can be more easily studied, and orbital properties that allow us to sample material from distant parts of the solar system that would otherwise be inaccessible), while allowing us to study regions of the solar system that are not sampled by classical comets.This article is part of the themed issue 'Cometary science after Rosetta'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Mine Planning for Asteroid Orebodies

Science.gov (United States)

Gertsch, L. S.; Gertsch, R. E.

2000-01-01

Given that an asteroid (or comet) has been determined to contain sufficient material of value to be potentially economic to exploit, a mining method must be selected and implemented. This paper discusses the engineering necessary to bring a mine online, and the opportunities and challenges inherent in asteroid mineral prospects. The very important step of orebody characterization is discussed elsewhere. The mining methods discussed here are based on enclosing the asteroid within a bag in some fashion, whether completely or partially. In general, asteroid mining methods based on bags will consist of the following steps. Not all will be required in every case, nor necessarily in this particular sequence. Some steps will be performed simultaneously. Their purpose is to extract the valuable material from the body of the asteroid in the most efficient, cost-effective manner possible. In approximate order of initiation, if not of conclusion, the steps are: 1. Tether anchoring to the asteroid. 2. Asteroid motion control. 3. Body/fragment restraint system placement. 4. Operations platform construction. 5. Bag construction. 6. Auxiliary and support equipment placement. 7. Mining operations. 8. Processing operations. 9. Product transport to markets.

Dynamic Acquisition and Retrieval Tool (DART) for Comet Sample Return : Session: 2.06.Robotic Mobility and Sample Acquisition Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Badescu, Mircea; Bonitz, Robert; Kulczycki, Erick; Aisen, Norman; Dandino, Charles M.; Cantrell, Brett S.; Gallagher, William; Shevin, Jesse; Ganino, Anthony; Haddad, Nicolas;

Backward Planetary Protection Issues and Possible Solutions for Icy Plume Sample Return Missions from Astrobiological Targets

Science.gov (United States)

Yano, Hajime; McKay, Christopher P.; Anbar, Ariel; Tsou, Peter

The recent report of possible water vapor plumes at Europa and Ceres, together with the well-known Enceladus plume containing water vapor, salt, ammonia, and organic molecules, suggests that sample return missions could evolve into a generic approach for outer Solar System exploration in the near future, especially for the benefit of astrobiology research. Sampling such plumes can be accomplished via fly-through mission designs, modeled after the successful Stardust mission to capture and return material from Comet Wild-2 and multiple, precise trajectory controls of the Cassini mission to fly through Enceladus’ plume. The proposed LIFE (Life Investigation For Enceladus) mission to Enceladus, which would sample organic molecules from the plume of that apparently habitable world, provides one example of the appealing scientific return of such missions. Beyond plumes, the upper atmosphere of Titan could also be sampled in this manner. The SCIM mission to Mars, also inspired by Stardust, would sample and return aerosol dust in the upper atmosphere of Mars and thus extends this concept even to other planetary bodies. Such missions share common design needs. In particular, they require large exposed sampler areas (or sampler arrays) that can be contained to the standards called for by international planetary protection protocols that COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy (PPP) recommends. Containment is also needed because these missions are driven by astrobiologically relevant science - including interest in organic molecules - which argues against heat sterilization that could destroy scientific value of samples. Sample containment is a daunting engineering challenge. Containment systems must be carefully designed to appropriate levels to satisfy the two top requirements: planetary protection policy and the preserving the scientific value of samples. Planning for Mars sample return tends to center on a hermetic seal specification (i.e., gas-tight against helium escape

A Draft Science Management Plan for Returned Samples from Mars: Recommendations from the International Mars Architecture for the Return of Samples (iMARS) Phase II Working Group

Science.gov (United States)

Haltigin, T.; Lange, C.; Mugnuolo, R.; Smith, C.

2018-04-01

This paper summarizes the findings and recommendations of the International Mars Architecture for the Return of Samples (iMARS) Phase II Working Group, an international team comprising 38 members from 16 countries and agencies.

The Steward Observatory asteroid relational database

Science.gov (United States)

Sykes, Mark V.; Alvarezdelcastillo, Elizabeth M.

1991-01-01

The Steward Observatory Asteroid Relational Database (SOARD) was created as a flexible tool for undertaking studies of asteroid populations and sub-populations, to probe the biases intrinsic to asteroid databases, to ascertain the completeness of data pertaining to specific problems, to aid in the development of observational programs, and to develop pedagogical materials. To date, SOARD has compiled an extensive list of data available on asteroids and made it accessible through a single menu-driven database program. Users may obtain tailored lists of asteroid properties for any subset of asteroids or output files which are suitable for plotting spectral data on individual asteroids. The program has online help as well as user and programmer documentation manuals. The SOARD already has provided data to fulfill requests by members of the astronomical community. The SOARD continues to grow as data is added to the database and new features are added to the program.

Asteroids. Prospective energy and material resources

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Badescu, Viorel (ed.) [Bucharest Polytechnic Univ. (Romania). Candida Oancea Institute

2013-11-01

Recent research on Prospective Energy and Material Resources on Asteroids. Carefully edited book dedicated to Asteroids prospective energy and material resources. Written by leading experts in the field. The Earth has limited material and energy resources while these resources in space are virtually unlimited. Further development of humanity will require going beyond our planet and exploring of extraterrestrial resources and sources of unlimited power. Thus far, all missions to asteroids have been motivated by scientific exploration. However, given recent advancements in various space technologies, mining asteroids for resources is becoming ever more feasible. A significant portion of asteroids value is derived from their location; the required resources do not need to be lifted at a great expense from the surface of the Earth. Resources derived from Asteroid not only can be brought back to Earth but could also be used to sustain human exploration of space and permanent settlements in space. This book investigates asteroids' prospective energy and material resources. It is a collection of topics related to asteroid exploration, and utilization. It presents past and future technologies and solutions to old problems that could become reality in our life time. The book therefore is a great source of condensed information for specialists involved in current and impending asteroid-related activities and a good starting point for space researchers, inventors, technologists and potential investors. Written for researchers, engineers, and businessmen interested in asteroids' exploration and exploitation.

Planning Related to the Curation and Processing of Returned Martian Samples

Science.gov (United States)

McCubbin, F. M.; Harrington, A. D.

2018-04-01

Many of the planning activities in the NASA Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office at JSC are centered around Mars Sample Return. The importance of contamination knowledge and the benefits of a mobile/modular receiving facility are discussed.

A Geology Sampling System for Small Bodies

Science.gov (United States)

Naids, Adam J.; Hood, Anthony D.; Abell, Paul; Graff, Trevor; Buffington, Jesse

2016-01-01

Human exploration of microgravity bodies is being investigated as a precursor to a Mars surface mission. Asteroids, comets, dwarf planets, and the moons of Mars all fall into this microgravity category and some are being discussed as potential mission targets. Obtaining geological samples for return to Earth will be a major objective for any mission to a small body. Currently, the knowledge base for geology sampling in microgravity is in its infancy. Humans interacting with non-engineered surfaces in microgravity environment pose unique challenges. In preparation for such missions a team at the NASA Johnson Space Center has been working to gain experience on how to safely obtain numerous sample types in such an environment. This paper describes the type of samples the science community is interested in, highlights notable prototype work, and discusses an integrated geology sampling solution.

A Geology Sampling System for Microgravity Bodies

Science.gov (United States)

Hood, Anthony; Naids, Adam

2016-01-01

Human exploration of microgravity bodies is being investigated as a precursor to a Mars surface mission. Asteroids, comets, dwarf planets, and the moons of Mars all fall into this microgravity category and some are been discussed as potential mission targets. Obtaining geological samples for return to Earth will be a major objective for any mission to a microgravity body. Currently the knowledge base for geology sampling in microgravity is in its infancy. Humans interacting with non-engineered surfaces in microgravity environment pose unique challenges. In preparation for such missions a team at the NASA Johnson Space Center has been working to gain experience on how to safely obtain numerous sample types in such an environment. This paper describes the type of samples the science community is interested in, highlights notable prototype work, and discusses an integrated geology sampling solution.

Reverse Asteroids: Searching for an Effective Tool to Combat Asteroid Belt Misconceptions

Science.gov (United States)

Summers, F.; Eisenhamer, B.

2014-12-01

The public 'knows' that asteroid belts are densely packed and dangerous for spaceships to cross. Visuals from "Star Wars" to, unfortunately, the recent "Cosmos" TV series have firmly established this astronomical misconception. However, even scientifically correct graphics, such as the Minor Planet Center's plot of the inner solar system, reinforces that view. Each pixel in the image is more than a million kilometers in width, making an accurate representation of the object density impossible.To address this widespread misconception, we are investigating an educational exercise built around a computer interactive that we call "Reverse Asteroids". In the arcade classic video game, the asteroids came to the player's spaceship. For our reverse implementation, we consider an inquiry-based activity in which the spaceship must go hunting for the asteroids, using a database of real objects in our solar system. Both 3D data visualization and basic statistical analysis play crucial roles in bringing out the true space density within the asteroid belt, and perhaps a reconciliation between imagination and reality. We also emphasize that a partnership of scientists and educators is fundamental to the success of such projects.

M-class Asteroids: Soft Rock, Heavy Metal, Or None Of That Jazz?

Science.gov (United States)

Rivkin, Andrew S.

2008-09-01

M-class asteroids in the Tholen taxonomy have featureless spectra in the 0.3-1.0 micrometer region and moderate albedos. Taxonomic studies using reflectance spectra have long associated M-class asteroids with iron meteorites. Dozens of parent bodies are required by cosmochemists in order to generate the diversity seen in the iron meteorite population, representing both the disrupted cores of differentiated parent bodies as well as objects with more exotic histories. Unfortunately, the featureless spectrum of iron-nickel metal in the visible and near-IR can be matched by other mineralogies unrelated to iron meteorites. For instance, the primitive enstatite chondrites are also matches to M asteroids (Burbine et al. 2002). The past 20 years have led to increased recognition that the M asteroid class includes a diverse set of objects. Polarimetric, spectral, and radar observations in the 1980s and 1990s showed that at least some M asteroids were not iron-meteorite-like. In particular, observations by Jones et al. (1990), Rivkin et al. (1995), and Rivkin et al. (2000) found several M asteroids with absorptions near 3 micrometers, interpreted as hydrated minerals. This led to the proposal to separate those asteroids with bands into a new W class. Since 2000, new observations have been made by various workers in the near and mid-IR from the ground and with Spitzer. An increase in the sample size of radar-detected asteroids has provided additional insight into M and W asteroids. New meteorite classes have been delimited and characterized, some of which are of direct relevance to the M asteroid population. Discoveries of binary M-class asteroids have allowed densities to be measured Finally, the Rosetta spacecraft will fly by the M (W) asteroid 21 Lutetia in 2010. I will discuss the M/W asteroid class in the context of all of these new data. Thanks to the NASA PAST and PGG programs.

The global topography of Bennu: altimetry, photoclinometry, and processing

Science.gov (United States)

Perry, M. E.; Barnouin, O. S.; Daly, M. G.; Seabrook, J.; Palmer, E. E.; Gaskell, R. W.; Craft, K. L.; Roberts, J. H.; Philpott, L.; Asad, M. Al; Johnson, C. L.; Nair, A. H.; Espiritu, R. C.; Nolan, M. C.; Lauretta, D. S.

2017-09-01

The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission will spend two years observing (101955) Bennu and will then return pristine samples of carbonaceous material from the asteroid [1]. Launched in September 2016, OSIRISREx arrives at Bennu in August 2018, acquires a sample in July 2020, and returns the sample to Earth in September 2023. The instruments onboard OSIRIS-REx will measure the physical and chemical properties of this B-class asteroid, a subclass within the larger group of C-complex asteroids that might be organic-rich. At approximately 500m in average diameter [2], Bennu is sufficiently large to retain substantial regolith and as an Apollo asteroid with a low inclination (6°), it is one of the most accessible primitive near-Earth asteroid.

Distant asteroids and Chiron

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

French, L.M.; Vilas, F.; Hartmann, W.K.; Tholen, D.J.

1989-01-01

Knowledge of the physical properties of distant asteroids (a>3.3 AU) has grown dramatically over the past five years, due to systematic compositional and lightcurve studies. Most of these objects have red, dark surfaces, and their spectra show a reddening in spectral slope with heliocentric distance implying a change in surface composition. Trojans for which near-opposition phase curve information is available appear to show little or no opposition effect, unlike any dark solar system objects. The lightcurve amplitudes of Trojan and Hilda asteroids imply significantly more elongated shapes for these groups than for main-belt asteroids of comparable size. These recent observations are reviewed in the context of their implications for the formation and subsequent evolution of the distant asteroids, and their interrelations with the main belt, Chiron and comets

Asteroid mass estimation using Markov-chain Monte Carlo

Science.gov (United States)

Siltala, Lauri; Granvik, Mikael

2017-11-01

Estimates for asteroid masses are based on their gravitational perturbations on the orbits of other objects such as Mars, spacecraft, or other asteroids and/or their satellites. In the case of asteroid-asteroid perturbations, this leads to an inverse problem in at least 13 dimensions where the aim is to derive the mass of the perturbing asteroid(s) and six orbital elements for both the perturbing asteroid(s) and the test asteroid(s) based on astrometric observations. We have developed and implemented three different mass estimation algorithms utilizing asteroid-asteroid perturbations: the very rough 'marching' approximation, in which the asteroids' orbital elements are not fitted, thereby reducing the problem to a one-dimensional estimation of the mass, an implementation of the Nelder-Mead simplex method, and most significantly, a Markov-chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach. We describe each of these algorithms with particular focus on the MCMC algorithm, and present example results using both synthetic and real data. Our results agree with the published mass estimates, but suggest that the published uncertainties may be misleading as a consequence of using linearized mass-estimation methods. Finally, we discuss remaining challenges with the algorithms as well as future plans.

Overview of the Mars Sample Return Earth Entry Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Dillman, Robert; Corliss, James

2008-01-01

NASA's Mars Sample Return (MSR) project will bring Mars surface and atmosphere samples back to Earth for detailed examination. Langley Research Center's MSR Earth Entry Vehicle (EEV) is a core part of the mission, protecting the sample container during atmospheric entry, descent, and landing. Planetary protection requirements demand a higher reliability from the EEV than for any previous planetary entry vehicle. An overview of the EEV design and preliminary analysis is presented, with a follow-on discussion of recommended future design trade studies to be performed over the next several years in support of an MSR launch in 2018 or 2020. Planned topics include vehicle size for impact protection of a range of sample container sizes, outer mold line changes to achieve surface sterilization during re-entry, micrometeoroid protection, aerodynamic stability, thermal protection, and structural materials selection.

Asteroids - NeoWs API

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — NeoWs (Near Earth Object Web Service) is a RESTful web service for near earth Asteroid information. With NeoWs a user can: search for Asteroids based on their...

Geotechnical Tests on Asteroid Simulant Orgueil

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia, Alexander D'marco

2017-01-01

In the last 100 years, the global population has more than quadrupled to over seven billion people. At the same time, the demand for food and standard of living has been increasing which has amplified the global water use by nearly eight times from approximately 500 to 4000 cu km per yr from 1900 to 2010. With the increasing concern to sustain the growing population on Earth it is necessary to seek other approaches to ensure that our planet will have resources for generations to come. In recent years, the advancement of space travel and technology has allowed the idea of mining asteroids with resources closer to becoming a reality. During the duration of the internship at NASA Kennedy Space Center, several geotechnical tests were conducted on BP-1 lunar simulant and asteroid simulant Orgueil. The tests that were conducted on BP-1 was to practice utilizing the equipment that will be used on the asteroid simulant and the data from those tests will be omitted from report. Understanding the soil mechanics of asteroid simulant Orgueil will help provide basis for future technological advances and prepare scientists for the conditions they may encounter when mining asteroids becomes reality in the distant future. Distinct tests were conducted to determine grain size distribution, unconsolidated density, and maximum density. Once the basic properties are known, the asteroid simulant will be altered to different levels of compaction using a vibrator table to see how compaction affects the density. After different intervals of vibration compaction, a miniature vane shear test will be conducted. Laboratory vane shear testing is a reliable tool to investigate strength anisotropy in the vertical and horizontal directions of a very soft to stiff saturated fine-grained clayey soil. This test will provide us with a rapid determination of the shear strength on the undisturbed compacted regolith. The results of these tests will shed light on how much torque is necessary to drill

The first retrograde Trojan asteroid

Science.gov (United States)

Wiegert, Paul; Connors, Martin; Veillet, Christian

2018-04-01

There are about six thousand asteroids which share Jupiter's orbit around the Sun. Called the 'Trojan asteroids', they co-exist easily with this giant planet because they travel in the same direction as it ('direct' or 'prograde' motion), and remain roughly 60 degrees ahead of or behind it in its orbit. Newly discovered asteroid 2015 BZ509 is on a retrograde orbit, but is nonetheless in a state dynamically analogous to that of the prograde Trojans. The discovery circumstances and the nature of the motion of this curious asteroid -the first of its kind- will be outlined.

Asteroids mass determination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffmann, M.

1989-01-01

Basic methods for asteroid mass determinations and their errors are discussed. New results and some current developments in the astrometric method are reviewed. New methods and techniques, such as electronic imaging, radar ranging and space probes are becoming important for asteroid mass determinations. Mass and density estimations on rotational properties and possible satelites are also discussed

An initial perspective of S-asteroid subtypes within asteroid families

Science.gov (United States)

Kelley, M. S.; Gaffey, M. J.

1993-01-01

Many main belt asteroids cluster around certain values of semi-major axis (a), inclination (i), and eccentricity (e). Hirayama was the first to notice these concentrations which he interpreted as evidence of disruptions of larger parent bodies. He called these clusters 'asteroid families'. The term 'families' is increasingly reserved for genetic associations to distinguish them from clusters of unknown or purely dynamical origin (e.g. the Phocaea cluster). Members of a genetic asteroid family represent fragments derived from various depths within the original parent planetesimal. Thus, family members offer the potential for direct examination of the interiors of parent bodies which have undergone metamorphism and differentiation similar to that occurring in the inaccessible interiors of terrestrial planets. The differentiation similar to that occurring in the inaccessible interiors of terrestrial planets. The condition that genetic family members represent the fragments of a parent object provides a critical test of whether an association (cluster in proper element space) is a genetic family. Compositions (types and relative abundances of materials) of family members must permit the reconstruction of a compositionally plausible parent body. The compositions of proposed family members can be utilized to test the genetic reality of the family and to determine the type and degree of internal differentiation within the parent planetesimal. The interpretation of the S-class mineralogy provides a preliminary evaluation of family memberships. Detailed mineralogical and petrological analysis was done based on the reflectance spectra of 39 S-type asteroids. The result is a division of the S-asteroid class into seven subtypes based on compositional differences. These subtypes, designated S(I) to S(VII), correspond to surface silicate assemblages ranging from monomineralic olivine (dunites) through olivine-pyroxene mixtures to pure pyroxene or pyroxene-feldspar mixtures

Evolution of comets into asteroids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weissman, P.R.; A'hearn, M.F.; Rickman, H.; Mcfadden, L.A.

1989-01-01

This paper presents observational evidence, together with recent theoretical developments, supporting the hypothesis that at least some asteroids might be extinct or dormant cometary nuclei. The observations include the discovery of a number of apparent asteroids in chaotic Jupiter-crossing orbits; the IRAS discovery of 1983 TB, an asteroid in the same orbit as the Geminid meteor shower; the apparent low activity levels determined for several short-period comet nuclei including Comet Halley; and observations of possible cometary activity in some earth-crossing asteroids. Theoretical developments include explorations of dynamical mechanisms capable of delivering main-belt asteroids into earth-crossing orbits, and an understanding of possible processes which may affect comets during their long residence in the Oort cloud and lead to the formation of nonvolatile crusts before and after they enter the planetary system. 143 refs

Formulation Assessment and Support Team (FAST) for the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM)

Science.gov (United States)

Mazanek, Daniel D.; Abell, Paul; Reeves, David M.; NASA Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) Formulation Assessment and Support Team (FAST)

2016-10-01

The Formulation Assessment and Support Team (FAST) for the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) was a two-month effort, chartered by NASA, to provide timely inputs for mission requirement formulation in support of the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM) Requirements Closure Technical Interchange Meeting held December 15-16, 2015. Additionally, the FAST was tasked with developing an initial list of potential mission investigations and providing input on potential hosted payloads and partnerships. The FAST explored several aspects of potential science benefits and knowledge gain from the ARM. Expertise from the science, engineering, and technology communities was represented in exploring lines of inquiry related to key characteristics of the ARRM reference target asteroid (2008 EV5) for engineering design purposes. Specific areas of interest included target origin, spatial distribution and size of boulders, surface geotechnical properties, boulder physical properties, and considerations for boulder handling, crew safety, and containment. In order to increase knowledge gain potential from the mission, opportunities for partnerships and accompanying payloads that could be provided by domestic and international partners were also investigated. The ARM FAST final report was publicly released on February 18, 2016 and represents the FAST's final product. The report and associated public comments are being used to support mission requirements formulation and serve as an initial inquiry to the science and engineering communities relating to the characteristics of the ARRM reference target asteroid. This report also provides a suggested list of potential investigations sorted and grouped based on their likely benefit to ARM and potential relevance to NASA science and exploration goals. These potential investigations could be conducted to reduce mission risks and increase knowledge return in the areas of science, planetary defense, asteroid resources and in-situ resource

The CanMars Analogue Mission: Lessons Learned for Mars Sample Return

Science.gov (United States)

Osinski, G. R.; Beaty, D.; Battler, M.; Caudill, C.; Francis, R.; Haltigin, T.; Hipkin, V.; Pilles, E.

2018-04-01

We present an overview and lessons learned for Mars Sample Return from CanMars — an analogue mission that simulated a Mars 2020-like cache mission. Data from 39 sols of operations conducted in the Utah desert in 2015 and 2016 are presented.

Prospects for asteroid mass determination from close encounters between asteroids: ESA's Gaia space mission and beyond

Science.gov (United States)

Ivantsov, Anatoliy; Hestroffer, Daniel; Eggl, Siegfried

2018-04-01

We present a catalog of potential candidates for asteroid mass determination based on mutual close encounters of numbered asteroids with massive perturbers (D>20 km). Using a novel geometric approach tuned to optimize observability, we predict optimal epochs for mass determination observations. In contrast to previous studies that often used simplified dynamical models, we have numerically propagated the trajectories of all numbered asteroids over the time interval from 2013 to 2023 using relativistic equations of motion including planetary perturbations, J2 of the Sun, the 16 major asteroid perturbers and the perturbations due to non-sphericities of the planets. We compiled a catalog of close encounters between asteroids where the observable perturbation of the sky plane trajectory is greater than 0.5 mas so that astrometric measurements of the perturbed asteroids in the Gaia data can be leveraged. The catalog v1.0 is available at ftp://dosya.akdeniz.edu.tr/ivantsov.

O2/CO Ignition System for Mars Sample Return Missions, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Returning a geological sample from the surface of Mars will require an ascent propulsion system with a comparatively large velocity change (delta-V) capability due...

Spacecraft exploration of asteroids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Veverka, J.; Langevin, Y.; Farquhar, R.; Fulchignoni, M.

1989-01-01

After two decades of spacecraft exploration, we still await the first direct investigation of an asteroid. This paper describes how a growing international interest in the solar system's more primitive bodies should remedy this. Plans are under way in Europe for a dedicated asteroid mission (Vesta) which will include multiple flybys with in situ penetrator studies. Possible targets include 4 Vesta, 8 Flora and 46 Hestia; launch its scheduled for 1994 or 1996. In the United States, NASA plans include flybys of asteroids en route to outer solar system targets

Asteroids: up close and personal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chapman, Clark R. [Southwest Research Institute (United States)

2001-06-01

Think of our solar system. The Sun, the Moon and the nine planets come to mind first, followed by the moons of other planets and other small bodies like asteroids. In 1991, almost 30 years after planetary exploration began, an asteroid was visited by a passing spacecraft for the first time. Nearly another decade elapsed before the first dedicated asteroid mission went into orbit around Eros, a city-sized object some 34 km long. And earlier this year, the NEAR, Shoemaker spacecraft daringly descended to the surface of Eros and landed safely. Asteroids have been pushed to the tail-end of the itinerary of solar-system exploration because of their diminutive sizes. Indeed, the wealth of low-gravity phenomena associated with asteroids has captured the imagination of both researchers and the public alike. In the June issue of Physics World Clark R Chapman of the Southwest Research Institute, US, explains how the landing of a spacecraft on the asteroid Eros earlier this year has given space scientists the best view yet of small planetary bodies and has opened a new window on the solar system. (U.K.)

Special issue on asteroids - Introduction

Science.gov (United States)

Novaković, Bojan; Hsieh, Henry H.; Gronchi, Giovanni F.

2018-04-01

The articles in this special issue are devoted to asteroids, small solar system bodies that primarily populate a region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, known as the asteroid belt, but can also be found throughout the Solar System. Asteroids are considered to be a key to understanding the formation and evolution of our planetary system. Their properties allow us to test current theoretical models and develop new theoretical concepts pertaining to evolutionary processes in the Solar System. There have been major advances in asteroid science in the last decade, and that trend continues. Eighteen papers accepted for this special issue cover a wide range of asteroid-related subjects, pushing the boundaries of our understanding of these intriguing objects even further. Here we provide the reader with a brief overview of these thrilling papers, with an invitation for interested scientists to read each work in detail for a better understanding of these recent cutting edge results. As many topics in asteroid science remain open challenges, we hope that this special issue will be an important reference point for future research on this compelling topic.

Simultaneous Mass Determination for Gravitationally Coupled Asteroids

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baer, James [Private address, 3210 Apache Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15241 (United States); Chesley, Steven R., E-mail: jimbaer1@earthlink.net [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)

2017-08-01

The conventional least-squares asteroid mass determination algorithm allows us to solve for the mass of a large subject asteroid that is perturbing the trajectory of a smaller test asteroid. However, this algorithm is necessarily a first approximation, ignoring the possibility that the subject asteroid may itself be perturbed by the test asteroid, or that the encounter’s precise geometry may be entangled with encounters involving other asteroids. After reviewing the conventional algorithm, we use it to calculate the masses of 30 main-belt asteroids. Compared to our previous results, we find new mass estimates for eight asteroids (11 Parthenope, 27 Euterpe, 51 Neimausa, 76 Freia, 121 Hermione, 324 Bamberga, 476 Hedwig, and 532 Herculina) and significantly more precise estimates for six others (2 Pallas, 3 Juno, 4 Vesta, 9 Metis, 16 Psyche, and 88 Thisbe). However, we also find that the conventional algorithm yields questionable results in several gravitationally coupled cases. To address such cases, we describe a new algorithm that allows the epoch state vectors of the subject asteroids to be included as solve-for parameters, allowing for the simultaneous solution of the masses and epoch state vectors of multiple subject and test asteroids. We then apply this algorithm to the same 30 main-belt asteroids and conclude that mass determinations resulting from current and future high-precision astrometric sources (such as Gaia ) should conduct a thorough search for possible gravitational couplings and account for their effects.

Simultaneous Mass Determination for Gravitationally Coupled Asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Baer, James; Chesley, Steven R.

2017-08-01

The conventional least-squares asteroid mass determination algorithm allows us to solve for the mass of a large subject asteroid that is perturbing the trajectory of a smaller test asteroid. However, this algorithm is necessarily a first approximation, ignoring the possibility that the subject asteroid may itself be perturbed by the test asteroid, or that the encounter’s precise geometry may be entangled with encounters involving other asteroids. After reviewing the conventional algorithm, we use it to calculate the masses of 30 main-belt asteroids. Compared to our previous results, we find new mass estimates for eight asteroids (11 Parthenope, 27 Euterpe, 51 Neimausa, 76 Freia, 121 Hermione, 324 Bamberga, 476 Hedwig, and 532 Herculina) and significantly more precise estimates for six others (2 Pallas, 3 Juno, 4 Vesta, 9 Metis, 16 Psyche, and 88 Thisbe). However, we also find that the conventional algorithm yields questionable results in several gravitationally coupled cases. To address such cases, we describe a new algorithm that allows the epoch state vectors of the subject asteroids to be included as solve-for parameters, allowing for the simultaneous solution of the masses and epoch state vectors of multiple subject and test asteroids. We then apply this algorithm to the same 30 main-belt asteroids and conclude that mass determinations resulting from current and future high-precision astrometric sources (such as Gaia) should conduct a thorough search for possible gravitational couplings and account for their effects.

Simultaneous Mass Determination for Gravitationally Coupled Asteroids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baer, James; Chesley, Steven R.

2017-01-01

The conventional least-squares asteroid mass determination algorithm allows us to solve for the mass of a large subject asteroid that is perturbing the trajectory of a smaller test asteroid. However, this algorithm is necessarily a first approximation, ignoring the possibility that the subject asteroid may itself be perturbed by the test asteroid, or that the encounter’s precise geometry may be entangled with encounters involving other asteroids. After reviewing the conventional algorithm, we use it to calculate the masses of 30 main-belt asteroids. Compared to our previous results, we find new mass estimates for eight asteroids (11 Parthenope, 27 Euterpe, 51 Neimausa, 76 Freia, 121 Hermione, 324 Bamberga, 476 Hedwig, and 532 Herculina) and significantly more precise estimates for six others (2 Pallas, 3 Juno, 4 Vesta, 9 Metis, 16 Psyche, and 88 Thisbe). However, we also find that the conventional algorithm yields questionable results in several gravitationally coupled cases. To address such cases, we describe a new algorithm that allows the epoch state vectors of the subject asteroids to be included as solve-for parameters, allowing for the simultaneous solution of the masses and epoch state vectors of multiple subject and test asteroids. We then apply this algorithm to the same 30 main-belt asteroids and conclude that mass determinations resulting from current and future high-precision astrometric sources (such as Gaia ) should conduct a thorough search for possible gravitational couplings and account for their effects.

Geography of the asteroid belt

Science.gov (United States)

Zellner, B. H.

1978-01-01

The CSM classification serves as the starting point on the geography of the asteroid belt. Raw data on asteroid types are corrected for observational biases (against dark objects, for instance) to derive the distribution of types throughout the belt. Recent work on family members indicates that dynamical families have a true physical relationship, presumably indicating common origin in the breakup of a parent asteroid.

Spectral reflectance "deconstruction" of the Murchison CM2 carbonaceous chondrite and implications for spectroscopic investigations of dark asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Cloutis, Edward A.; Pietrasz, Valerie B.; Kiddell, Cain; Izawa, Matthew R. M.; Vernazza, Pierre; Burbine, Thomas H.; DeMeo, Francesca; Tait, Kimberly T.; Bell, James F.; Mann, Paul; Applin, Daniel M.; Reddy, Vishnu

2018-05-01

Carbonaceous chondrites (CCs) are important materials for understanding the early evolution of the solar system and delivery of volatiles and organic material to the early Earth. Presumed CC-like asteroids are also the targets of two current sample return missions: OSIRIS-REx to asteroid Bennu and Hayabusa-2 to asteroid Ryugu, and the Dawn orbital mission at asteroid Ceres. To improve our ability to identify and characterize CM2 CC-type parent bodies, we have examined how factors such as particle size, particle packing, and viewing geometry affect reflectance spectra of the Murchison CM2 CC. The derived relationships have implications for disc-resolved examinations of dark asteroids and sampleability. It has been found that reflectance spectra of slabs are more blue-sloped (reflectance decreasing toward longer wavelengths as measured by the 1.8/0.6 μm reflectance ratio), and generally darker, than powdered sample spectra. Decreasing the maximum grain size of a powdered sample results in progressively brighter and more red-sloped spectra. Decreasing the average grain size of a powdered sample results in a decrease in diagnostic absorption band depths, and redder and brighter spectra. Decreasing porosity of powders and variations in surface texture result in spectral changes that may be different as a function of viewing geometry. Increasing thickness of loose dust on a denser powdered substrate leads to a decrease in absorption band depths. Changes in viewing geometry lead to different changes in spectral metrics depending on whether the spectra are acquired in backscatter or forward-scatter geometries. In backscattered geometry, increasing phase angle leads to an initial increase and then decrease in spectral slope, and a general decrease in visible region reflectance and absorption band depths, and frequent decreases in absorption band minima positions. In forward scattering geometry, increasing phase angle leads to small non-systematic changes in spectral slope

VizieR Online Data Catalog: AKARI IRC asteroid sample diameters & albedos (Ali-Lagoa+, 2018)

Science.gov (United States)

Ali-Lagoa, V.; Mueller, T. G.; Usui, F.; Hasegawa, S.

2017-11-01

Table 1 contains the best-fitting values of size and beaming parameter and corresponding visible geometric albedos for the full AKARI IRC sample. We fitted the near-Earth asteroid thermal model (NEATM) of Harris (1998Icar..131..291H) to the AKARI IRC thermal infrared data (Murakami et al., 2007PASJ...59S.369M, Onaka et al., 2007PASJ...59S.401O, Ishihara et al., 2010A&A...514A...1I, Cat. II/297, Usui et al., 2011PASJ...63.1117U, Cat. J/PASJ/63/1117, Takita et al., 2012PASJ...64..126T, Hasegawa et al., 2013PASJ...65...34H, Cat. J/PASJ/65/34). The NEATM implementation is described in Ali-Lagoa and Delbo' (2017A&A...603A..55A, cat. J/A+A/603/A55). Minimum relative errors of 10, 15, and 20 percent are given for size, beaming parameter and albedo in those cases where the beaming parameter could be fitted. Otherwise, a default value of the beaming parameter is assumed based on Eq. 1 in the article, and the minimum relative errors in size and albedo increase to 20 and 40 percent (see the discussions in Mainzer et al., 2011ApJ...736..100M, Ali-Lagoa et al., 2016A&A...591A..14A, Cat. J/A+A/591/A14). We also provide the asteroid absolute magnitudes and G12 slope parameters retrieved from Oszkiewicz et al. (2012), the number of observations used in each IRC band (S9W and L18W), plus the heliocentric and geocentric distances and phase angle (r, Delta, alpha) based on the ephemerides taken from the MIRIADE service (http://vo.imcce.fr/webservices/miriade/?ephemph). (1 data file).

VNIR Reflectance and MIR Emissivity Spectra of Ordinary Chondrite Meteorites Under Simulated Asteroid Surface Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Gemma, M.; Shirley, K.; Glotch, T. D.; Ebel, D. S. S.

2017-12-01

Recent missions have revealed much about the nature of many Near-Earth asteroids, including the NEAR-Shoemaker target 433 Eros and Hayabusa target 25142 Itokawa. Both asteroids appear to have mineralogy consistent with ordinary chondrite meteorites. Laboratory spectral analysis of well-constrained meteorite samples can be employed as a reference tool to characterize and constrain data from current and future asteroid studies. A sample set of ordinary chondrite meteorites was chosen from the collection at the American Museum of Natural History. Six meteorites, spanning groups H, L, and LL, were prepared at four different size fractions (25-63 μm, 63-90 μm, 90-125 μm, 125-250 μm) in an attempt to mimic regolith known to exist on asteroids such as 433 Eros and 25142 Itokawa. At the Center for Planetary Exploration at Stony Brook University, spectra of the ordinary chondrite material were measured under simulated asteroid surface conditions ( 10-6 mbar, 150 K chamber temperature, low intensity illumination). The samples were used in two experiments: one measuring visible and near-infrared (VNIR) reflectance spectra at a series of temperatures, and the other measuring mid-infrared (MIR) emissivity spectra. The emissivity measurements require accurate simulation of the thermal environment within asteroid regolith, achieved by inducing a thermal gradient within the sample that results in a surface brightness temperature around 323 K (similar to the surface of 25142 Itokawa). Mid-IR emissivity spectra were collected for each sample at a surface temperature of 323 K, and reflectance spectra were collected in increments of 10 K, over the range 283 K to 373 K. Preliminary VNIR spectra show spreads similar to those seen in Hinrichs and Lucey (2002). Preliminary MIR emissivity spectra suggest that under asteroid surface conditions, the position of the Christiansen feature shifts to shorter wavelengths and emissivity is lower in the Reststrahlen bands when compared to

Spin states of asteroids in the Eos collisional family

Science.gov (United States)

Hanuš, J.; Delbo', M.; Alí-Lagoa, V.; Bolin, B.; Jedicke, R.; Ďurech, J.; Cibulková, H.; Pravec, P.; Kušnirák, P.; Behrend, R.; Marchis, F.; Antonini, P.; Arnold, L.; Audejean, M.; Bachschmidt, M.; Bernasconi, L.; Brunetto, L.; Casulli, S.; Dymock, R.; Esseiva, N.; Esteban, M.; Gerteis, O.; de Groot, H.; Gully, H.; Hamanowa, Hiroko; Hamanowa, Hiromi; Krafft, P.; Lehký, M.; Manzini, F.; Michelet, J.; Morelle, E.; Oey, J.; Pilcher, F.; Reignier, F.; Roy, R.; Salom, P. A.; Warner, B. D.

2018-01-01

Eos family was created during a catastrophic impact about 1.3 Gyr ago. Rotation states of individual family members contain information about the history of the whole population. We aim to increase the number of asteroid shape models and rotation states within the Eos collision family, as well as to revise previously published shape models from the literature. Such results can be used to constrain theoretical collisional and evolution models of the family, or to estimate other physical parameters by a thermophysical modeling of the thermal infrared data. We use all available disk-integrated optical data (i.e., classical dense-in-time photometry obtained from public databases and through a large collaboration network as well as sparse-in-time individual measurements from a few sky surveys) as input for the convex inversion method, and derive 3D shape models of asteroids together with their rotation periods and orientations of rotation axes. We present updated shape models for 15 asteroids and new shape model determinations for 16 asteroids. Together with the already published models from the publicly available DAMIT database, we compiled a sample of 56 Eos family members with known shape models that we used in our analysis of physical properties within the family. Rotation states of asteroids smaller than ∼ 20 km are heavily influenced by the YORP effect, whilst the large objects more or less retained their rotation state properties since the family creation. Moreover, we also present a shape model and bulk density of asteroid (423) Diotima, an interloper in the Eos family, based on the disk-resolved data obtained by the Near InfraRed Camera (Nirc2) mounted on the W.M. Keck II telescope.

Measurements of Regolith Simulant Thermal Conductivity Under Asteroid and Mars Surface Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Ryan, A. J.; Christensen, P. R.

2017-12-01

Laboratory measurements have been necessary to interpret thermal data of planetary surfaces for decades. We present a novel radiometric laboratory method to determine temperature-dependent thermal conductivity of complex regolith simulants under rough to high vacuum and across a wide range of temperatures. This method relies on radiometric temperature measurements instead of contact measurements, eliminating the need to disturb the sample with thermal probes. We intend to determine the conductivity of grains that are up to 2 cm in diameter and to parameterize the effects of angularity, sorting, layering, composition, and eventually cementation. We present the experimental data and model results for a suite of samples that were selected to isolate and address regolith physical parameters that affect bulk conductivity. Spherical glass beads of various sizes were used to measure the effect of size frequency distribution. Spherical beads of polypropylene and well-rounded quartz sand have respectively lower and higher solid phase thermal conductivities than the glass beads and thus provide the opportunity to test the sensitivity of bulk conductivity to differences in solid phase conductivity. Gas pressure in our asteroid experimental chambers is held at 10^-6 torr, which is sufficient to negate gas thermal conduction in even our coarsest of samples. On Mars, the atmospheric pressure is such that the mean free path of the gas molecules is comparable to the pore size for many regolith particulates. Thus, subtle variations in pore size and/or atmospheric pressure can produce large changes in bulk regolith conductivity. For each sample measured in our martian environmental chamber, we repeat thermal measurement runs at multiple pressures to observe this behavior. Finally, we present conductivity measurements of angular basaltic simulant that is physically analogous to sand and gravel that may be present on Bennu. This simulant was used for OSIRIS-REx TAGSAM Sample Return

Asteroid Spectroscopy: A Declaration of Independence

Science.gov (United States)

Bell, J. F.

1995-09-01

One of the shibboleths of asteroid spectroscopy for the past 25 years has been that a detailed knowledge of meteoritics is essential for proper interpretation of asteroid spectra. In fact, several recent spectroscopic discoveries have overturned long-standing models based on popular interpretations of meteorite data. A case can be made that spectroscopists could have made much faster progress if they had worked in total isolation from meteoritics. Consider the first three spectral classes identified in the 1970s: Vesta: The very first asteroid spectrum was unambigously basaltic, yet some meteoriticists have persistently resisted the obvious conclusion that the HED clan comes from Vesta, because A) Vesta is "impossibly" far from the known dynamical escape hatches; and B) the HED O-isotope data "establishes" a lirlk with pallasites and IIIAB irons, suggesting that their parent was some other completely disrupted asteroid. The discovery of a "dynamically impossible" extended family of basaltic fragments extending from Vesta to the 3:1 resonance [1] makes it clear that HEDs must originate on Vesta, and that dynamical, physical and isotopic arguments all led in the wrong direction. Stony: In the early 1970s meteorite fall statistics led to an expectation that many of the larger asteroids would be ordinary chondrites. When the most common class of asteroids proved to have silicate absorption bands, many concluded that these objects were the expected ordinary chondrite parent asteroids. The later discovery that S-type spectra do not actually resemble OCs was rationalized with imaginary "space weathering" processes (which have never been observed or simulated despite 20 years of wasted effort). Now that the real weathering trends in S asteroids have been resolved [2] and asteroids which actually do look like OCs discovered [3], it is clear that the eDhre controversy over S asteroid composition was a blind alley that could have been avoided by taking the spectra at face

Exogenous origin of hydration on asteroid (16) Psyche: the role of hydrated asteroid families

Science.gov (United States)

Avdellidou, C.; Delbo', M.; Fienga, A.

2018-04-01

Asteroid (16) Psyche, which for a long time was the largest M-type with no detection of hydration features in its spectrum, was recently discovered to have a weak 3-μm band and thus it was eventually added to the group of hydrated asteroids. Its relatively high density, in combination with the high radar albedo, led researchers to classify the asteroid as a metallic object. It is believed that it is possibly a core of a differentiated body, a remnant of `hit-and-run' collisions. The detection of hydration is, in principle, inconsistent with a pure metallic origin for this body. Here, we consider the scenario in which the hydration on its surface is exogenous and was delivered by hydrated impactors. We show that impacting asteroids that belong to families whose members have the 3-μm band can deliver hydrated material to Psyche. We developed a collisional model with which we test all dark carbonaceous asteroid families, which contain hydrated members. We find that the major source of hydrated impactors is the family of Themis, with a total implanted mass on Psyche of the order of ˜1014 kg. However, the hydrated fraction could be only a few per cent of the implanted mass, as the water content in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, the best analogue for the Themis asteroid family, is typically a few per cent of their mass.

CHOMIK -Sampling Device of Penetrating Type for Russian Phobos Sample Return Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Seweryn, Karol; Grygorczuk, Jerzy; Rickmann, Hans; Morawski, Marek; Aleksashkin, Sergey; Banaszkiewicz, Marek; Drogosz, Michal; Gurgurewicz, Joanna; Kozlov, Oleg E.; Krolikowska-Soltan, Malgorzata; Sutugin, Sergiej E.; Wawrzaszek, Roman; Wisniewski, Lukasz; Zakharov, Alexander

Measurements of physical properties of planetary bodies allow to determine many important parameters for scientists working in different fields of research. For example effective heat conductivity of the regolith can help with better understanding of processes occurring in the body interior. Chemical and mineralogical composition gives us a chance to better understand the origin and evolution of the moons. In principle such parameters of the planetary bodies can be determined based on three different measurement techniques: (i) in situ measurements (ii) measurements of the samples in laboratory conditions at the Earth and (iii) remote sensing measurements. Scientific missions which allow us to perform all type of measurements, give us a chance for not only parameters determination but also cross calibration of the instruments. Russian Phobos Sample Return (PhSR) mission is one of few which allows for all type of such measurements. The spacecraft will be equipped with remote sensing instruments like: spectrometers, long wave radar and dust counter, instruments for in-situ measurements -gas-chromatograph, seismometer, thermodetector and others and also robotic arm and sampling device. PhSR mission will be launched in November 2011 on board of a launch vehicle Zenit. About a year later (11 months) the vehicle will reach the Martian orbit. It is anticipated that it will land on Phobos in the beginning of 2013. A take off back will take place a month later and the re-entry module containing a capsule that will hold the soil sample enclosed in a container will be on its way back to Earth. The 11 kg re-entry capsule with the container will land in Kazakhstan in mid-2014. A unique geological penetrator CHOMIK dedicated for the Phobos Sample Return space mis-sion will be designed and manufactured at the Space Mechatronics and Robotics Laboratory, Space Research Centre Polish Academy of Sciences (SRC PAS) in Warsaw. Functionally CHOMIK is based on the well known MUPUS

Asteroids prospective energy and material resources

CERN Document Server

2013-01-01

The Earth has limited material and energy resources while these resources in space are virtually unlimited. Further development of humanity will require going beyond our planet and exploring of extraterrestrial resources and sources of unlimited power.   Thus far, all missions to asteroids have been motivated by scientific exploration. However, given recent advancements in various space technologies, mining asteroids for resources is becoming ever more feasible. A significant portion of asteroids value is derived from their location; the required resources do not need to be lifted at a great expense from the surface of the Earth.   Resources derived from Asteroid not only can be brought back to Earth but could also be used to sustain human exploration of space and permanent settlements in space.   This book investigates asteroids' prospective energy and material resources. It is a collection of topics related to asteroid exploration, and utilization. It presents past and future technologies and solutions t...

The Rosetta Stones of Mars — Should Meteorites be Considered as Samples of Opportunity for Mars Sample Return?

Science.gov (United States)

Tait, A. W.; Schröder, C.; Ashley, J. W.; Velbel, M. A.; Boston, P. J.; Carrier, B. L.; Cohen, B. A.; Bland, P. A.

2018-04-01

We summarize insights about Mars gained from investigating meteorites found on Mars. Certain types of meteorites can be considered standard probes inserted into the martian environment. Should they be considered for Mars Sample Return?

Direct Characterization of Comets and Asteroids via Cosmic Dust Analysis from the Deep Space Gateway

Science.gov (United States)

Fries, M.; Fisher, K.

2018-01-01

The Deep Space Gateway (DSG) may provide a platform for direct sampling of a large number of comets and asteroids, through employment of an instrument for characterizing dust from these bodies. Every year, the Earth traverses through debris streams of dust and small particles from comets and asteroids in Earth-crossing orbits, generating short-lived outbursts of meteor activity commonly known as "meteor showers" (Figure 1). The material in each debris stream originates from a distinct parent body, many of which have been identified. By sampling this material, it is possible to quantitatively analyze the composition of a dozen or more comets and asteroids (See Figure 2, following page) without leaving cislunar space.

Shape and spin of asteroid 967 Helionape

Science.gov (United States)

Apostolovska, G.; Kostov, A.; Donchev, Z.; Bebekovska, E. Vchkova; Kuzmanovska, O.

2018-04-01

Knowledge of the spin and shape parameters of the asteroids is very important for understanding of the conditions during the creation of our planetary system and formation of asteroid populations. The main belt asteroid and Flora family member 967 Helionape was observed during five apparitions. The observations were made at the Bulgarian National Astronomical Observatory (BNAO) Rozhen, since March 2006 to March 2016. Lihtcurve inversion method (Kaasalainen et al. (2001)), applied on 12 relative lightcurves obtained at various geometric conditions of the asteroid, reveals the spin vector, the sense of rotation and the preliminary shape model of the asteroid. Our aim is to contribute in increasing the set of asteroids with known spin and shape parameters. This could be done with dense lightcurves, obtained during small number of apparitions, in combination with sparse data produced by photometric asteroid surveys such as the Gaia satellite (Hanush (2011)).

Advanced Ignition System for Hybrid Rockets for Sample Return Missions, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — To return a sample from the surface of Mars or any of the larger moons in the solar system will require a propulsion system with a comparatively large delta-V...

Spectral Classification of Asteroids by Random Forest

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, C.; Ma, Y. H.; Zhao, H. B.; Lu, X. P.

2016-09-01

With the increasing asteroid spectral and photometric data, a variety of classification methods for asteroids have been proposed. This paper classifies asteroids based on the observations of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Moving Object Catalogue (MOC) by using the random forest algorithm. With the training data derived from the taxonomies of Tholen, Bus, Lazzaro, DeMeo, and Principal Component Analysis, we classify 48642 asteroids according to g, r, i, and z SDSS magnitudes. In this way, asteroids are divided into 8 spectral classes (C, X, S, B, D, K, L, and V).

Role of impact cratering for Mars sample return

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schultz, P.H.

1988-01-01

The preserved cratering record of Mars indicates that impacts play an important role in deciphering Martian geologic history, whether as a mechanism to modify the lithosphere and atmosphere or as a tool to sample the planet. The various roles of impact cratering in adding a broader understanding of Mars through returned samples are examined. Five broad roles include impact craters as: (1) a process in response to a different planetary localizer environment; (2) a probe for excavating crustal/mantle materials; (3) a possible localizer of magmatic and hydrothermal processes; (4) a chronicle of changes in the volcanic, sedimentary, atmospheric, and cosmic flux history; and (5) a chronometer for extending the geologic time scale to unsampled regions. The evidence for Earth-like processes and very nonlunar styles of volcanism and tectonism may shift the emphasis of a sampling strategy away from equally fundamental issues including crustal composition, unit ages, and climate history. Impact cratering not only played an important active role in the early Martian geologic history, it also provides an important tool for addressing such issues

Microwave Discharge Ion Engines onboard Hayabusa Asteroid Explorer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuninaka, Hitoshi

2008-01-01

The Hayabusa spacecraft rendezvoused with the asteroid Itokawa in 2005 after the powered flight in the deep space by the μl0 cathode-less electron cyclotron resonance ion engines. Though the spacecraft was seriously damaged after the successful soft-landing and lift-off, the xenon cold gas jets from the ion engines rescued it. New attitude stabilization method using a single reaction wheel, the ion beam jets, and the photon pressure was established and enabled the homeward journey from April 2007 aiming the Earth return on 2010. The total accumulated operational time of the ion engines reaches 31,400 hours at the end of 2007. One of four thrusters achieved 13,400-hour space operation

Reflectance spectroscopy and asteroid surface mineralogy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gaffey, M.J.; Bell, J.F.; Cruikshank, D.P.

1989-01-01

Information available from reflectance spectroscopy on the surface mineralogy of asteroids is discussed. Current spectral interpretive procedures used in the investigations of asteroid mineralogy are described. Present understanding of the nature and history of asteroids is discussed together with some still unresolved issues such as the source of ordinary chondrites. 100 refs

Sample Return in Preparation for Human Mission on the Surface of Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Yun, P.

2018-04-01

Returned samples of martian regolith will help the science community make an informed decision in choosing the final human landing site and develop a better human mission plan to meet science criteria and IRSU and civil engineering criteria.

A Rover Mobility Platform with Autonomous Capability to Enable Mars Sample Return

Science.gov (United States)

Fulford, P.; Langley, C.; Shaw, A.

2018-04-01

The next step in understanding Mars is sample return. In Fall 2016, the CSA conducted an analogue deployment using the Mars Exploration Science Rover. An objective was to demonstrate the maturity of the rover's guidance, navigation, and control.

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)

Science.gov (United States)

Rivkin, A.; Cheng, A. F.; Stickle, A. M.; Richardson, D. C.; Barnouin, O. S.; Thomas, C.; Fahnestock, E.

2017-12-01

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will be the first space experiment to demonstrate asteroid impact hazard mitigation by using a kinetic impactor. DART is currently in Preliminary Design Phase ("Phase B"), and is part of the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA), a joint ESA-NASA cooperative project. The AIDA target is the near-Earth binary asteroid 65803 Didymos, an S-class system that will make a close approach to Earth in fall 2022. The DART spacecraft is designed to impact the Didymos secondary at 6 km/s and demonstrate the ability to modify its trajectory through momentum transfer. The primary goals of AIDA are (1) perform a full-scale demonstration of the spacecraft kinetic impact technique for deflection of an asteroid; (2) measure the resulting asteroid deflection, by targeting the secondary member of a binary NEO and measuring the resulting changes of the binary orbit; and (3) study hyper-velocity collision effects on an asteroid, validating models for momentum transfer in asteroid impacts. The DART impact on the Didymos secondary will change the orbital period of the binary by several minutes, which can be measured by Earth-based optical and radar observations. The baseline DART mission launches in late 2020 to impact the Didymos secondary in 2022 near the time of its close pass of Earth, which enables an array of ground- and space-based observatories to participate in gathering data. The AIDA project will provide the first measurements of momentum transfer efficiency from hyper-velocity kinetic impact at full scale on an asteroid, where the impact conditions of the projectile are known, and physical properties and internal structures of the target asteroid are characterized or constrained. The DART kinetic impact is predicted to make a crater of 6 to 17 meters diameter, depending on target physical properties, but will also release a large volume of particulate ejecta that may be directly observable from Earth or even resolvable as a

Developing an Asteroid Rotational Theory

Science.gov (United States)

Geis, Gena; Williams, Miguel; Linder, Tyler; Pakey, Donald

2018-01-01

The goal of this project is to develop a theoretical asteroid rotational theory from first principles. Starting at first principles provides a firm foundation for computer simulations which can be used to analyze multiple variables at once such as size, rotation period, tensile strength, and density. The initial theory will be presented along with early models of applying the theory to the asteroid population. Early results confirm previous work by Pravec et al. (2002) that show the majority of the asteroids larger than 200m have negligible tensile strength and have spin rates close to their critical breakup point. Additionally, results show that an object with zero tensile strength has a maximum rotational rate determined by the object’s density, not size. Therefore, an iron asteroid with a density of 8000 kg/m^3 would have a minimum spin period of 1.16h if the only forces were gravitational and centrifugal. The short-term goal is to include material forces in the simulations to determine what tensile strength will allow the high spin rates of asteroids smaller than 150m.

The Opera Instrument: An Advanced Curation Development for Mars Sample Return Organic Contamination Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Fries, M. D.; Fries, W. D.; McCubbin, F. M.; Zeigler, R. A.

2018-01-01

Mars Sample Return (MSR) requires strict organic contamination control (CC) and contamination knowledge (CK) as outlined by the Mars 2020 Organic Contamination Panel (OCP). This includes a need to monitor surficial organic contamination to a ng/sq. cm sensitivity level. Archiving and maintaining this degree of surface cleanliness may be difficult but has been achieved. MSR's CK effort will be very important because all returned samples will be studied thoroughly and in minute detail. Consequently, accurate CK must be collected and characterized to best interpret scientific results from the returned samples. The CK data are not only required to make accurate measurements and interpretations for carbon-depleted martian samples, but also to strengthen the validity of science investigations performed on the samples. The Opera instrument prototype is intended to fulfill a CC/CK role in the assembly, cleaning, and overall contamination history of hardware used in the MSR effort, from initial hardware assembly through post-flight sample curation. Opera is intended to monitor particulate and organic contamination using quartz crystal microbalances (QCMs), in a self-contained portable package that is cleanroom-compliant. The Opera prototype is in initial development capable of approximately 100 ng/sq. cm organic contamination sensitivity, with additional development planned to achieve 1 ng/sq. cm. The Opera prototype was funded by the 2017 NASA Johnson Space Center Innovation Charge Account (ICA), which provides funding for small, short-term projects.

Spectral Classification of Asteroids by Random Forest

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Chao; Ma, Yue-hua; Zhao, Hai-bin; Lu, Xiao-ping

2017-10-01

With the increasing spectral and photometric data of asteroids, a variety of classification methods for asteroids have been proposed. This paper classifies asteroids based on the observations in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Moving Object Catalogue (MOC) by using the random forest algorithm. In combination with the present taxonomies of Tholen, Bus, Lazzaro, and DeMeo, and the principal component analysis, we have classified 48642 asteroids according to their SDSS magnitudes at the g, r, i, and z wavebands. In this way, these asteroids are divided into 8 (C, X, S, B, D, K, L, and V) classes.

Main-belt Asteroids in the K2 Uranus Field

Science.gov (United States)

Molnár, L.; Pál, A.; Sárneczky, K.; Szabó, R.; Vinkó, J.; Szabó, Gy. M.; Kiss, Cs.; Hanyecz, O.; Marton, G.; Kiss, L. L.

2018-02-01

We present the K2 light curves of a large sample of untargeted main-belt asteroids (MBAs) detected with the Kepler Space Telescope. The asteroids were observed within the Uranus superstamp, a relatively large, continuous field with a low stellar background designed to cover the planet Uranus and its moons during Campaign 8 of the K2 mission. The superstamp offered the possibility of obtaining precise, uninterrupted light curves of a large number of MBAs and thus determining unambiguous rotation rates for them. We obtained photometry for 608 MBAs, and were able to determine or estimate rotation rates for 90 targets, of which 86 had no known values before. In an additional 16 targets we detected incomplete cycles and/or eclipse-like events. We found the median rotation rate to be significantly longer than that of the ground-based observations, indicating that the latter are biased toward shorter rotation rates. Our study highlights the need and benefits of further continuous photometry of asteroids.

An overview of the asteroids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Binzel, R.P.

1989-01-01

An introduction and overview of the field of asteroid science is presented, highlighting the accomplishments of the 1980s. The development and application of many observational techniques and data from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite have greatly increased our knowledge of asteroid physical properties. New scenarios for understanding the chemical diversity and dynamical structure of asteroids have emerged. New insights have been gained toward understanding their origin and interrelations with meteorites and comets. Suggestions and speculations are offered on future research directions

Near Earth Asteroid redirect missions based on gravity assist maneuver

Science.gov (United States)

Ledkov, Anton; Shustov, Boris M.; Eismont, Natan; Boyarsky, Michael; Nazirov, Ravil; Fedyaev, Konstantin

maneuvers needed for hitting the target object. As additional option of planetary defense system construction the idea to redirect small near Earth asteroids onto the orbits resonance with the Earth orbit is explored. It is shown that it is possible to reach it by the use gravity assist maneuvers as it was described above by applying small velocity impulses to the asteroids. At least 11 asteroids were found demanded small enough delta-V for transferring them on such trajectories. After executing these maneuvers one can receive the system of asteroids approaching to the Earth practically each month with a possibility to use them as projectiles or for the purposes of delivering to the Earth their soil samples.

PROPERTIES OF NEAR-SUN ASTEROIDS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jewitt, David, E-mail: jewitt@ucla.edu [Department of Earth and Space Sciences and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California at Los Angeles, 595 Charles Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567 (United States)

2013-05-15

Asteroids near the Sun can attain equilibrium temperatures sufficient to induce surface modification from thermal fracture, desiccation, and decomposition of hydrated silicates. We present optical observations of nine asteroids with perihelia <0.25 AU (sub-solar temperatures {>=}800 K) taken to search for evidence of thermal modification. We find that the broadband colors of these objects are diverse but statistically indistinguishable from those of planet-crossing asteroids having perihelia near 1 AU. Furthermore, images of these bodies taken away from perihelion show no evidence for on-going mass-loss (model-dependent limits {approx}<1 kg s{sup -1}) that might result from thermal disintegration of the surface. We conclude that, while thermal modification may be an important process in the decay of near-Sun asteroids and in the production of debris, our new data provide no evidence for it.

OSIRIS-REx Flight Dynamics and Navigation Design

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, B.; Antreasian, P.; Carranza, E.; Jackman, C.; Leonard, J.; Nelson, D.; Page, B.; Stanbridge, D.; Wibben, D.; Williams, K.; Moreau, M.; Berry, K.; Getzandanner, K.; Liounis, A.; Mashiku, A.; Highsmith, D.; Sutter, B.; Lauretta, D. S.

2018-06-01

OSIRIS-REx is the first NASA mission to return a sample of an asteroid to Earth. Navigation and flight dynamics for the mission to acquire and return a sample of asteroid 101955 Bennu establish many firsts for space exploration. These include relatively small orbital maneuvers that are precise to ˜1 mm/s, close-up operations in a captured orbit about an asteroid that is small in size and mass, and planning and orbit phasing to revisit the same spot on Bennu in similar lighting conditions. After preliminary surveys and close approach flyovers of Bennu, the sample site will be scientifically characterized and selected. A robotic shock-absorbing arm with an attached sample collection head mounted on the main spacecraft bus acquires the sample, requiring navigation to Bennu's surface. A touch-and-go sample acquisition maneuver will result in the retrieval of at least 60 grams of regolith, and up to several kilograms. The flight activity concludes with a return cruise to Earth and delivery of the sample return capsule (SRC) for landing and sample recovery at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR).

Spectral properties of eight near-Earth asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Popescu, M.; Birlan, M.; Binzel, R.; Vernazza, P.; Barucci, A.; Nedelcu, D. A.; DeMeo, F.; Fulchignoni, M.

2011-11-01

Context. Near-Earth objects are among the most accessible bodies in the solar system in terms of the spacecraft propulsion requirements to reach them. The choice of targets and the planning of space missions are based on high quality ground-based science. Aims: The knowledge of the ensemble of physical parameters for these objects, including their composition, is a critical point in defining any mission scientific objectives. Determining the physical properties of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) is also possible from the ground by analyzing spectroscopy at both visible and infrared wavelengths. Methods: We present spectra of eight NEAs (1917, 8567, 16960, 164400, 188452, 2001 SG286, and 2010 TD54) obtained using the NASA telescope IRTF equipped with the spectro-imager SpeX. The observations were performed in the 0.8-2.5 μm spectral region using the low resolution mode of the spectrograph. We completed the taxonomic classification using the Bus-DeMeo taxonomy. We analyzed the spectra by comparing them to meteorite spectra from the Relab database using a χ2 approach. For the S-type asteroids of our sample, the band centers and BAR were calculated. We also attempted to interpret our data using a space-weathering model. Results: The taxonomic classification of five objects was reviewed and we assigned a corresponding type to the other three asteroids that were not classified before. We found that (1917) Cuyo, (8567) 1996 HW1, (16960) 1998 QS52, (188452) 2004 HE62, and 2010 TD54 are in the S-complex. We achieved a good matching of our S-type asteroids with the spectra of ordinary chondrites meteorites. The asteroid (5620) Jasonwheeler was found to have a NIR spectrum similar to carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. Thus, our results confirm its primitive properties obtained in several other spectral intervals. Appendices A and B are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org

Model Complexity and Out-of-Sample Performance: Evidence from S&P 500 Index Returns

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kaeck, Andreas; Rodrigues, Paulo; Seeger, Norman J.

We apply a range of out-of-sample specification tests to more than forty competing stochastic volatility models to address how model complexity affects out-of-sample performance. Using daily S&P 500 index returns, model confidence set estimations provide strong evidence that the most important model

Deep Space Gateway "Recycler" Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Graham, L.; Fries, M.; Hamilton, J.; Landis, R.; John, K.; O'Hara, W.

2018-02-01

Use of the Deep Space Gateway provides a hub for a reusable planetary sample return vehicle for missions to gather star dust as well as samples from various parts of the solar system including main belt asteroids, near-Earth asteroids, and Mars moon.

Resurfacing asteroids from YORP spin-up and failure

Science.gov (United States)

Graves, Kevin J.; Minton, David A.; Hirabayashi, Masatoshi; DeMeo, Francesca E.; Carry, Benoit

2018-04-01

The spectral properties of S and Q-type asteroids can change over time due to interaction with the solar wind and micrometeorite impacts in a process known as 'space weathering.' Space weathering raises the spectral slope and decreases the 1 μm absorption band depth in the spectra of S and Q-type asteroids. Over time, Q-type asteroids, which have very similar spectra to ordinary chondrite meteorites, will change into S-type asteroids. Because there are a significant number of Q-type asteroids, there must be some process which is resurfacing S-type asteroids into Q-types. In this study, we use asteroid data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to show a trend between the slope through the g‧, r‧, and i‧ filters, called the gri-slope, and size that holds for all populations of S and Q-type asteroids in the inner solar system, regardless of orbit. We model the evolution of a suite of asteroids in a Monte Carlo YORP rotational evolution and space weathering model. We show that spin-up and failure from YORP is one of the key resurfacing mechanisms that creates the observed weathering trends with size. By varying the non-dimensional YORP coefficient and running time of the present model over the range 475-1425 Myr, we find a range of values for the space weathering timescale, τSW ≈ 19-80 Myr at 2.2 AU. We also estimate the time to weather a newly resurfaced Q-type asteroid into an S-complex asteroid at 1 AU, τQ → S(1AU) ≈ 2-7 Myr.

Expectation of "Le Petit Prince"'s home

Science.gov (United States)

Abe, Masanao; Ohba, Yohei; Ishiguro, Masateru; Hasegawa, Sunao; Fuse, Tetsuharu

2002-11-01

We observed a few hundred meter-sized asteroid like "Le Petit Prince"'s home using Subaru telescope. The name of the asteroid is 1998 SF36, which is a target object of the Japanese asteroid sample return mission, MUSES-C. We report the results of the observations and expect the true picture of the tiny-sized asteroid.

An ISU study of asteroid mining

Science.gov (United States)

Burke, J. D.

During the 1990 summer session of the International Space University, 59 graduate students from 16 countries carried out a design project on using the resources of near-earth asteroids. The results of the project, whose full report is now available from ISU, are summarized. The student team included people in these fields: architecture, business and management, engineering, life sciences, physical sciences, policy and law, resources and manufacturing, and satellite applications. They designed a project for transporting equipment and personnel to a near-earth asteroid, setting up a mining base there, and hauling products back for use in cislunar space. In addition, they outlined the needed precursor steps, beginning with expansion of present ground-based programs for finding and characterizing near-earth asteroids and continuing with automated flight missions to candidate bodies. (To limit the summer project's scope the actual design of these flight-mission precursors was excluded.) The main conclusions were that asteroid mining may provide an important complement to the future use of lunar resources, with the potential to provide large amounts of water and carbonaceous materials for use off earth. However, the recovery of such materials from presently known asteroids did not show an economic gain under the study assumptions; therefore, asteroid mining cannot yet be considered a prospective business.

Elements of planetary protection against asteroid and comet hazard

Science.gov (United States)

Steklov, A. F.; Vidmachenko, A. P.; Dashkiev, G. N.; Zhilyaev, B. E.

2018-05-01

The principles of protection against asteroid-comet hazard should constitute the main priority of the modern Proto-cosmic civilization on the planet Earth. Any impact of a fairly large asteroid or cometary nucleus with a size of 1 to 20 or more kilometers will lead to a global catastrophe and, perhaps, to the death of Mankind. Forces in order to withstand such a blow of the cosmic body during large space invasions, we do not have and, most likely, will not be for a long time . We need as soon as possible to create technical facilities and systems for long-term comfortable living of large colonies of people on the Moon, Mars, Venus and Mercury, having arranged there some elements of the biosphere. In these colonies people should live in extraterrestrial space settlements, and should periodically and constantly "outplay" scenarios of reliable and guaranteed re-population of the planet Earth by people. Such periodic "exercises" on the actual modeling of the return to the "post-catastrophic" Earth should ensure the survival of humanity even in the worst versions of the consequences of possible dangerous space invasions. That is, we should always be ready for the repopulation on the Earth by people and for the reconstruction of the basic elements of the man's biosphere.

Lower-Cost, Relocatable Lunar Polar Lander and Lunar Surface Sample Return Probes

Science.gov (United States)

Amato, G. Michael; Garvin, James B.; Burt, I. Joseph; Karpati, Gabe

2011-01-01

Key science and exploration objectives of lunar robotic precursor missions can be achieved with the Lunar Explorer (LEx) low-cost, robotic surface mission concept described herein. Selected elements of the LEx concept can also be used to create a lunar surface sample return mission that we have called Boomerang

Sensitivity to Uncertainty in Asteroid Impact Risk Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Mathias, D.; Wheeler, L.; Prabhu, D. K.; Aftosmis, M.; Dotson, J.; Robertson, D. K.

2015-12-01

The Engineering Risk Assessment (ERA) team at NASA Ames Research Center is developing a physics-based impact risk model for probabilistically assessing threats from potential asteroid impacts on Earth. The model integrates probabilistic sampling of asteroid parameter ranges with physics-based analyses of entry, breakup, and impact to estimate damage areas and casualties from various impact scenarios. Assessing these threats is a highly coupled, dynamic problem involving significant uncertainties in the range of expected asteroid characteristics, how those characteristics may affect the level of damage, and the fidelity of various modeling approaches and assumptions. The presented model is used to explore the sensitivity of impact risk estimates to these uncertainties in order to gain insight into what additional data or modeling refinements are most important for producing effective, meaningful risk assessments. In the extreme cases of very small or very large impacts, the results are generally insensitive to many of the characterization and modeling assumptions. However, the nature of the sensitivity can change across moderate-sized impacts. Results will focus on the value of additional information in this critical, mid-size range, and how this additional data can support more robust mitigation decisions.

Planetary Protection Requirements for Mars Sample Return Missions: Recommendations from a 2009 NRC Report

Science.gov (United States)

Race, Margaret; Farmer, Jack

A 2009 report by the National Research Council (NRC) reviewed a previous study on Mars Sample Return (1997) and provided updated recommendations for future sample return mis-sions based on our current understanding about Mars and its biological potential, as well as advances in technology and analytical capabilities. The committee* made 12 specific recommen-dations that fall into three general categories—one related to current scientific understanding, ten based on changes in the technical and/or policy environment, and one aimed at public com-munication. Substantive changes from the 1997 report relate mainly to protocols and methods, technology and infrastructure, and general oversight. This presentation provides an overview of the 2009 report and its recommendations and analyzes how they may impact mission designs and plans. The full report, Assessment of Planetary Protection Requirements for Mars Sample Return Missions is available online at: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?recordi d = 12576 * Study participants: Jack D. Farmer, Arizona State University (chair) James F. Bell III, Cornell University Kathleen C. Benison, Central Michigan University William V. Boynton, University of Arizona Sherry L. Cady, Portland State University F. Grant Ferris, University of Toronto Duncan MacPherson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Margaret S. Race, SETI Institute Mark H. Thiemens, University of California, San Diego Meenakshi Wadhwa, Arizona State University

Asteroid mass estimation with Markov-chain Monte Carlo

Science.gov (United States)

Siltala, Lauri; Granvik, Mikael

2017-10-01

Estimates for asteroid masses are based on their gravitational perturbations on the orbits of other objects such as Mars, spacecraft, or other asteroids and/or their satellites. In the case of asteroid-asteroid perturbations, this leads to a 13-dimensional inverse problem at minimum where the aim is to derive the mass of the perturbing asteroid and six orbital elements for both the perturbing asteroid and the test asteroid by fitting their trajectories to their observed positions. The fitting has typically been carried out with linearized methods such as the least-squares method. These methods need to make certain assumptions regarding the shape of the probability distributions of the model parameters. This is problematic as these assumptions have not been validated. We have developed a new Markov-chain Monte Carlo method for mass estimation which does not require an assumption regarding the shape of the parameter distribution. Recently, we have implemented several upgrades to our MCMC method including improved schemes for handling observational errors and outlier data alongside the option to consider multiple perturbers and/or test asteroids simultaneously. These upgrades promise significantly improved results: based on two separate results for (19) Fortuna with different test asteroids we previously hypothesized that simultaneous use of both test asteroids would lead to an improved result similar to the average literature value for (19) Fortuna with substantially reduced uncertainties. Our upgraded algorithm indeed finds a result essentially equal to the literature value for this asteroid, confirming our previous hypothesis. Here we show these new results for (19) Fortuna and other example cases, and compare our results to previous estimates. Finally, we discuss our plans to improve our algorithm further, particularly in connection with Gaia.

BAOBAB (Big And Outrageously Bold Asteroid Belt) Project

Science.gov (United States)

Mcfadden, L. A.; Thomas, C. A; Englander, J. A.; Ruesch, O.; Hosseini, S.; Goossens, S. J.; Mazarico, E. M.; Schmerr, N.

2017-01-01

One of the intriguing results of NASA's Dawn mission is the composition and structure of the Main Asteroid Belt's only known dwarf planet, Ceres [1]. It has a top layer of dehydrated clays and salts [2] and an icy-rocky mantle [3,4]. It is widely known that the asteroid belt failed to accrete as a planet by resonances between the Sun and Jupiter. About 20-30 asteroids >100 km diameter are probably differentiated protoplanets [5]. 1) how many more and which ones are fragments of protoplanets? 2) How many and which ones are primordial rubble piles left over from condensation of the solar nebula? 3) How would we go about gaining better and more complete characterization of the mass, interior structure and composition of the Main Belt asteroid population? 4) What is the relationship between asteroids and ocean worlds? Bulk parameters such as the mass, density, and porosity, are important to characterize the structure of any celestial body, and for asteroids in particular, they can shed light on the conditions in the early solar system. Asteroid density estimates exist but currently they are often based on assumed properties of taxonomic classes, or through astronomical survey data where interactions with asteroids are weak at best resulting in large measurement uncertainty. We only have direct density estimates from spacecraft encounters for a few asteroids at this time. Knowledge of the asteroids is significant not only to understand their role in solar system workings, but also to assess their potential as space resources, as impact hazards on Earth, or even as harboring life forms. And for the distant future, we want to know if the idea put forth in a contest sponsored by Physics Today, to surface the asteroids into highly reflecting, polished surfaces and use them as a massively segmented mirror for astrophysical exploration [6], is feasible.

Asteroid 2017 FZ2 et al.: signs of recent mass-shedding from YORP?

Science.gov (United States)

de la Fuente Marcos, C.; de la Fuente Marcos, R.

2018-01-01

The first direct detection of the asteroidal Yarkovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (YORP) effect, a phenomenon that changes the spin states of small bodies due to thermal reemission of sunlight from their surfaces, was obtained for (54509) YORP 2000 PH5. Such an alteration can slowly increase the rotation rate of asteroids, driving them to reach their fission limit and causing their disruption. This process can produce binaries and unbound asteroid pairs. Secondary fission opens the door to the eventual formation of transient but genetically related groupings. Here, we show that the small near-Earth asteroid (NEA) 2017 FZ2 was a co-orbital of our planet of the quasi-satellite type prior to their close encounter on 2017 March 23. Because of this flyby with the Earth, 2017 FZ2 has become a non-resonant NEA. Our N-body simulations indicate that this object may have experienced quasi-satellite engagements with our planet in the past and it may return as a co-orbital in the future. We identify a number of NEAs that follow similar paths, the largest named being YORP, which is also an Earth's co-orbital. An apparent excess of NEAs moving in these peculiar orbits is studied within the framework of two orbit population models. A possibility that emerges from this analysis is that such an excess, if real, could be the result of mass shedding from YORP itself or a putative larger object that produced YORP. Future spectroscopic observations of 2017 FZ2 during its next visit in 2018 (and of related objects when feasible) may be able to confirm or reject this interpretation.

ASTEROID PHOTOMETRIC CATALOG V1.1

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Asteroid Photometric Catalog (3rd update), Lagerkvist, et.al., 1993 [LAGERKVISTETAL1993], is a compilation of all asteroid lightcurve photometry published up to...

Binaries and triples among asteroid pairs

Science.gov (United States)

Pravec, Petr; Scheirich, Peter; Kušnirák, Peter; Hornoch, Kamil; Galád, Adrián

2015-08-01

Despite major achievements obtained during the past two decades, our knowledge of the population and properties of small binary and multiple asteroid systems is still far from advanced. There is a numerous indirect evidence for that most small asteroid systems were formed by rotational fission of cohesionless parent asteroids that were spun up to the critical frequency presumably by YORP, but details of the process are lacking. Furthermore, as we proceed with observations of more and more binary and paired asteroids, we reveal new facts that substantially refine and sometimes change our understanding of the asteroid systems. One significant new finding we have recently obtained is that primaries of many asteroid pairs are actually binary or triple systems. The first such case found is (3749) Balam (Vokrouhlický, ApJL 706, L37, 2009). We have found 9 more binary systems among asteroid pairs within our ongoing NEOSource photometric project since October 2012. They are (6369) 1983 UC, (8306) Shoko, (9783) Tensho-kan, (10123) Fideoja, (21436) Chaoyichi, (43008) 1999 UD31, (44620) 1999 RS43, (46829) 1998 OS14 and (80218) 1999 VO123. We will review their characteristics. These paired binaries as we call them are mostly similar to binaries in the general ("background") population (of unpaired asteroids), but there are a few trends. The paired binaries tend to have larger secondaries with D_2/D_1 = 0.3 to 0.5 and they also tend to be wider systems with 8 of the 10 having orbital periods between 30 and 81 hours, than average among binaries in the general population. There may be also a larger fraction of triples; (3749) Balam is a confirmed triple, having a larger close and a smaller distant satellite, and (8306) Shoko and (10123) Fideoja are suspect triples as they show additional rotational lightcurve components with periods of 61 and 38.8 h that differ from the orbital period of 36.2 and 56.5 h, respectively. The unbound secondaries tend to be of the same size or

Twenty-one Asteroid Lightcurves at Asteroids Observers (OBAS) - MPPD: Nov 2016 - May 2017

Science.gov (United States)

Mas, Vicente; Fornas, G.; Lozano, Juan; Rodrigo, Onofre; Fornas, A.; Carreño, A.; Arce, Enrique; Brines, Pedro; Herrero, David

2018-01-01

We report on the analysis of photometric observations of 21 main-belt asteroids (MBA) done by Asteroids Observers (OBAS). This work is part of the Minor Planet Photometric Database task that was initiated by a group of Spanish amateur astronomers. We have managed to obtain a number of accurate and complete lightcurves as well as some additional incomplete lightcurves to help analysis at future oppositions.

ASTEROID SIZING BY RADIOGALAXY OCCULTATION AT 5 GHZ

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lehtinen, K.; Muinonen, K.; Poutanen, M. [Finnish Geospatial Research Institute FGI, Geodeetinrinne 2, FI-02430 Masala (Finland); Bach, U. [Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Radioobservatorium Effelsberg, Max-Planck-Str. 28, D-53902 Bad Münstereifel-Effelsberg (Germany); Petrov, L., E-mail: kimmo.lehtinen@nls.fi [Astrogeo Center, Falls Church, VA 22043 (United States)

2016-05-10

Stellar occultations by asteroids observed at visual wavelengths have been an important tool for studying the size and shape of asteroids and for revising the orbital parameters of asteroids. At radio frequencies, a shadow of an asteroid on the Earth is dominated by diffraction effects. Here, we show, for the first time, that a single observation of an occultation of a compact radio source at a frequency of 5 GHz can be used to derive the effective size of the occulting object and to derive the distance between the observer and the center of the occultation path on the Earth. The derived diameter of the occulting object, asteroid (115) Thyra, is 75 ± 6 km. The observed occultation profile shows features that cannot be explained by diffraction of a single asteroid.

Storyboard GALILEO CRUISE SCIENCE OPPORTUNITIES describes asteroid encounters

Science.gov (United States)

1989-01-01

Storyboard with mosaicked image of an asteroid and entitled GALILEO CRUISE SCIENCE OPPORTUNITIES describes asteroid objectives. These objectives include: first asteroid encounter; surface geology, composition size, shape, mass; and relation of primitive bodies to meteorites.

ASTEROID POLARIMETRIC DATABASE V6.0

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Asteroid Polarimetric Database (APD) is a collection of asteroid polarimetry results compiled by D.F. Lupishko and S.V. Vasiliev of Karazin Kharkiv National...

Asteroid 'Bites the Dust' Around Dead Star

Science.gov (United States)

2009-01-01

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope set its infrared eyes upon the dusty remains of shredded asteroids around several dead stars. This artist's concept illustrates one such dead star, or 'white dwarf,' surrounded by the bits and pieces of a disintegrating asteroid. These observations help astronomers better understand what rocky planets are made of around other stars. Asteroids are leftover scraps of planetary material. They form early on in a star's history when planets are forming out of collisions between rocky bodies. When a star like our sun dies, shrinking down to a skeleton of its former self called a white dwarf, its asteroids get jostled about. If one of these asteroids gets too close to the white dwarf, the white dwarf's gravity will chew the asteroid up, leaving a cloud of dust. Spitzer's infrared detectors can see these dusty clouds and their various constituents. So far, the telescope has identified silicate minerals in the clouds polluting eight white dwarfs. Because silicates are common in our Earth's crust, the results suggest that planets similar to ours might be common around other stars.

Study of the Asteroid Florence

Science.gov (United States)

Vodniza, Alberto; Pereira, Mario

2018-06-01

Asteroid Florence was discovered at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia (March 1981). Paul Chodas, manager of CNEOS-JPL said: “Florence is the largest asteroid to pass by our planet this close since the NASA program to detect and track near-Earth asteroids began” [1]. The asteroid passed 7.1 million kilometers away from the earth [2]. The GDSCC-NASA discovered that the asteroid has two small moons. The diameter of Florence is 4.5 kilometers, and the sizes of the two moons are probably between 100 – 300 meters across. The inner moon has a rotation period around Florence of about 8 hours, and the outer moon has a period of about 25 hours [3]. From our Observatory, located in Pasto-Colombia, we captured several pictures, videos and astrometry data during several hours during three days. Our data was published by the Minor Planet Center (MPC) and also appears at the web page of NEODyS [4]. The pictures were captured with the following equipment: CGE PRO 1400 CELESTRON and STL-1001 SBIG camera. Astrometry and photometry was carried out, and we calculated the orbital elements and the rotation period. Summary and conclusions: We obtained the following orbital parameters: eccentricity = 0.422548 +/- 0.000994, semi-major axis = 1.76675 +/- 0.00313 A.U, orbital inclination = 22.128 +/- 0.029 deg, longitude of the ascending node = 336.0960 +/- 0.0013 deg, argument of perihelion = 27.861 +/- 0.016, mean motion = 0.41970 +/- 0.00112 deg/d, perihelion distance = 1.0202151 +/- 5.27e-5 A.U, aphelion distance = 2.51329 +/- 0.00625 A.U, absolute magnitude = 14.4. The parameters were calculated based on 281 observations. Dates: 2017 September 01 to 05 with mean residual = 0.19 arcseconds. The asteroid has an orbital period of 2.35 years (857.74 days). The rotation period of the asteroid is 2.3 hours. Note: Spaceweather published our video on September 1-2017 [5].[1] https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/large-asteroid-to-safely-pass-earth-on-sept-1[2] http

Mitigation-relevant science with Don Quijote - a European-led mission to a near-Earth asteroid

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, A. W.; Galvez, A.; Benz, W.; Fitzsimmons, A.; Green, S. F.; Michel, P.; Valsecchi, G.; Paetzold, M.; Haeusler, B.; Carnelli, I.

The Don Quijote concept includes a rendezvous spacecraft and an impactor vehicle The main aim of the mission is to carry out an experiment to demonstrate the modification of a near-Earth asteroid s orbit in a controlled way as a first step in establishing mitigation measures against an eventual hazardous object In particular the spacecraft would study the physical properties of the target asteroid and the effects of a kinetic impact on its dynamical state It is also expected that some spacecraft resources will be available for more general solar-system science investigations The Don Quijote mission is currently at the phase-A stage during which a number of European consortia of industrial and scientific partners will study its technical feasibility and potential scientific return The basic mission concept current scientific issues and the possibilities for international participation in the mission will be discussed

Comet or Asteroid?

Science.gov (United States)

1997-11-01

When is a minor object in the solar system a comet? And when is it an asteroid? Until recently, there was little doubt. Any object that was found to display a tail or appeared diffuse was a comet of ice and dust grains, and any that didn't, was an asteroid of solid rock. Moreover, comets normally move in rather elongated orbits, while most asteroids follow near-circular orbits close to the main plane of the solar system in which the major planets move. However, astronomers have recently discovered some `intermediate' objects which seem to possess properties that are typical for both categories. For instance, a strange object (P/1996 N2 - Elst-Pizarro) was found last year at ESO ( ESO Press Photo 36/96 ) which showed a cometary tail, while moving in a typical asteroidal orbit. At about the same time, American scientists found another (1996 PW) that moved in a very elongated comet-type orbit but was completely devoid of a tail. Now, a group of European scientists, by means of observations carried out at the ESO La Silla observatory, have found yet another object that at first appeared to be one more comet/asteroid example. However, continued and more detailed observations aimed at revealing its true nature have shown that it is most probably a comet . Consequently, it has received the provisional cometary designation P/1997 T3 . The Uppsala-DLR Trojan Survey Some time ago, Claes-Ingvar Lagerkvist (Astronomical Observatory, Uppsala, Sweden), in collaboration with Gerhard Hahn, Stefano Mottola, Magnus Lundström and Uri Carsenty (DLR, Institute of Planetary Exploration, Berlin, Germany), started to study the distribution of asteroids near Jupiter. They were particularly interested in those that move in orbits similar to that of Jupiter and which are located `ahead' of Jupiter in the so-called `Jovian L4 Lagrangian point'. Together with those `behind' Jupiter, these asteroids have been given the names of Greek and Trojan Heroes who participated in the famous Trojan war

Search for the return of activity in active asteroid 176P/LINEAR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hsieh, Henry H. [Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (China); Denneau, Larry; Jedicke, Robert; Kaluna, Heather M.; Keane, Jacqueline V.; Kleyna, Jan; MacLennan, Eric M.; Meech, Karen J.; Riesen, Timm; Schunova, Eva; Urban, Laurie; Vereš, Peter; Wainscoat, Richard J. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Fitzsimmons, Alan; Lacerda, Pedro [Astrophysics Research Centre, Queens University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN (United Kingdom); Hainaut, Olivier R. [European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2, D-85748 Garching bei München (Germany); Ishiguro, Masateru [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, 599 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak, Seoul 151-742 (Korea, Republic of); Moskovitz, Nick A. [Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Snodgrass, Colin [Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Max-Planck-Str. 2, D-37191 Katlenburg-Lindau (Germany); Trujillo, Chadwick A., E-mail: hhsieh@asiaa.sinica.edu.tw [Gemini Observatory, Northern Operations Center, 670 North Aohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720 (United States); and others

2014-04-01

We present the results of a search for the reactivation of active asteroid 176P/LINEAR during its 2011 perihelion passage using deep optical observations obtained before, during, and after that perihelion passage. Deep composite images of 176P constructed from data obtained between 2011 June and 2011 December show no visible signs of activity, while photometric measurements of the object during this period also show no significant brightness enhancements similar to that observed for 176P between 2005 November and 2005 December when it was previously observed to be active. An azimuthal search for dust emission likewise reveals no evidence for directed emission (i.e., a tail, as was previously observed for 176P), while a one-dimensional surface brightness profile analysis shows no indication of a spherically symmetric coma at any time in 2011. We conclude that 176P did not in fact exhibit activity in 2011, at least not on the level on which it exhibited activity in 2005, and suggest that this could be due to the devolatization or mantling of the active site responsible for its activity in 2005.

Restricted by Whom? A Historical Review of Strategies and Organization for Restricted Earth Return of Samples from NASA Planetary Missions

Science.gov (United States)

Pugel, Betsy

2017-01-01

This presentation is a review of the timeline for Apollo's approach to Planetary Protection, then known as Planetary Quarantine. Return of samples from Apollo 11, 12 and 14 represented NASA's first attempts into conducting what is now known as Restricted Earth Return, where return of samples is undertaken by the Agency with the utmost care for the impact that the samples may have on Earth's environment due to the potential presence of microbial or other life forms that originate from the parent body (in this case, Earth's Moon).

Asteroids in the High Cadence Transient Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Peña, J.; Fuentes, C.; Förster, F.; Maureira, J. C.; San Martín, J.; Littín, J.; Huijse, P.; Cabrera-Vives, G.; Estévez, P. A.; Galbany, L.; González-Gaitán, S.; Martínez, J.; de Jaeger, Th.; Hamuy, M.

2018-03-01

We report on the serendipitous observations of solar system objects imaged during the High cadence Transient Survey 2014 observation campaign. Data from this high-cadence wide-field survey was originally analyzed for finding variable static sources using machine learning to select the most-likely candidates. In this work, we search for moving transients consistent with solar system objects and derive their orbital parameters. We use a simple, custom motion detection algorithm to link trajectories and assume Keplerian motion to derive the asteroid’s orbital parameters. We use known asteroids from the Minor Planet Center database to assess the detection efficiency of the survey and our search algorithm. Trajectories have an average of nine detections spread over two days, and our fit yields typical errors of {σ }a∼ 0.07 {au}, σ e ∼ 0.07 and σ i ∼ 0.°5 in semimajor axis, eccentricity, and inclination, respectively, for known asteroids in our sample. We extract 7700 orbits from our trajectories, identifying 19 near-Earth objects, 6687 asteroids, 14 Centaurs, and 15 trans-Neptunian objects. This highlights the complementarity of supernova wide-field surveys for solar system research and the significance of machine learning to clean data of false detections. It is a good example of the data-driven science that Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will deliver.

International CJMT-1 Workshop on Asteroidal Science

Science.gov (United States)

Ip, Wing-Huen

2014-03-01

An international workshop on asteroidal science was held between October 16 and 17, 2012, at the Macau University of Science and Technology gathering together experts on asteroidal study in China, Japan, Macao and Taiwan. For this reason, we have called it CJMT-1 Workshop. Though small in sizes, the asteroids orbiting mainly between the orbit of Mars and of Jupiter have important influence on the evolution of the planetary bodies. Topics ranging from killer asteroids to space resources are frequently mentioned in news reports with prominence similar to the search for water on Mars. This also means that the study of asteroids is very useful in exciting the imagination and interest in science of the general public. Several Asian countries have therefore developed long-term programs integrating ground-based observations and space exploration with Japan being the most advanced and ambitious as demonstrated by the very successful Hayabusa mission to asteroid 25143 Itokawa. In this volume we will find descriptions of the mission planning of Hayabusa II to the C-type near-Earth asteroid, 1999 JU3. Not to be outdone, China's Chang-E 2 spacecraft was re-routed to a flyby encounter with asteroid 4179 Toutatis in December 2012. It is planned that in the next CJMT workshop, we will have the opportunity to learn more about the in-depth data analysis of the Toutatis observations and the progress reports on the Hayabusa II mission which launch date is set to be July 2014. Last but not least, the presentations on the ground-based facilities as described in this volume will pave the way for coordinated observations of asteroidal families and Trojan asteroids - across Asia from Taiwan to Uzbekistan. Such international projects will serve as an important symbol of good will and peaceful cooperation among the key members of this group. Finally, I want to thank the Space Science Institute, Macao University of Science and Technology, for generous support, and its staff members

Near-Earth asteroids: Metals occurrence, extraction, and fabrication

Science.gov (United States)

Westfall, Richard

Near-earth asteroids occur in three principle types of orbits: Amor, Apollo, and Aten. Amor asteroids make relatively close (within 0.3 AU) approaches to the earth's orbit, but do not actually overlap it. Apollo asteroids spend most of their time outside the earth's orbital path, but at some point of close approach to the sun, they cross the orbit of the earth. Aten asteroids are those whose orbits remain inside the earth's path for the majority of their time, with semi-major axes less than 0.1 AU. Near-earth orbit asteroids include: stones, stony-irons, irons, carbonaceous, and super-carbonaceous. Metals within these asteroids include: iron, nickel, cobalt, the platinum group, aluminum, titanium, and others. Focus is on the extraction of ferrous and platinum group metals from the stony-iron asteroids, and the iron asteroids. Extraction of the metal fraction can be accomplished through the use of tunnel-boring-machines (TBM) in the case of the stony-irons. The metals within the story-iron asteroids occur as dispersed granules, which can be separated from the stony fraction through magnetic and gaseous digestion separation techniques. The metal asteroids are processes by drilling and gaseous digestion or by gaseous digestion alone. Manufacturing of structures, housings, framing networks, pressure vessels, mirrors, and other products is accomplished through the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of metal coating on advanced composites and on the inside of contour-defining inflatables (CDI). Metal coatings on advanced composites provide: resistance to degradation in the hostile environments of space; superior optical properties; superior heat dissipation; service as wear coatings; and service as evidential coatings. Metal coatings on the inside of CDI produce metal load-bearing products. Fibers such as graphite, kevlar, glass, ceramic, metal, etc., can be incorporated in the metal coatings on the inside of CDI producing metal matrix products which exhibit high strength

Small Jovian Trojan Asteroids: An Excess of Slow Rotators

Science.gov (United States)

French, Linda M.

2016-01-01

Several lines of evidence support a common origin for, and possible hereditary link between, cometary nuclei and jovian Trojan asteroids. Due to their distance and low albedos, few comet-sized Trojans have been studied. We discuss the rotation properties of Jovian Trojan asteroids less than 30 km in diameter. Approximately half of the objects discussed here were studied using densely sampled lightcurves (French et al. 2015a, b); Stephens et al. 2015), and the other half were sparse lightcurves obtained by the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF; Waszcazk et al. 2015). A significant fraction (~40%) of the objects in the ground-based sample rotate slowly (P > 24h), with measured periods as long as 375 h (Warner and Stephens 2011). The PTF data show a similar excess of slow rotators. Only 5 objects in the combined data set have rotation periods of less than six hours. Three of these fast rotators were contained in the data set of French et al. these three had a geometric mean rotation period of 5.29 hours. A prolate spheroid held together by gravity rotating with this period would have a critical density of 0.43 gm/cm3, a density similar to that of comets (Lamy et al. 2004). Harris et al. (2012) and Warner et al. (2011) have explored the possible effects on asteroid rotational statistics with the results from wide-field surveys. We will examine Trojan rotation statistics with and without the results from the PTF.

UV Spectroscopy of Metallic Asteroid (16) Psyche

Science.gov (United States)

Cunningham, N. J.; Becker, T. M.; Retherford, K. D.; Roth, L.; Feaga, L. M.; Wahlund, J.-E.; Elkins-Tanton, L. T.

2017-09-01

Asteroid (16) Psyche is the largest M-type asteroid, and the planned destination of the NASA Discovery mission Psyche and the proposed ESA M5 mission Heavy Metal. Psyche is considered to be the exposed core of a differentiated asteroid, whose mantle has been stripped by collisions; but other histories have been proposed. We observed Psyche with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope, to obtain a full ultraviolet (UV) spectrum of both of Psyche's hemispheres. We seek to test three possible scenarios for Psyche's origin: Is Psyche the exposed core of a differentiated asteroid? Is it an asteroid with high olivine content that has been space-weathered? Or did Psyche accrete as-is in a highly-reducing environment early in the history of the solar system? We will present the UV spectra and their implications for Psyche's history.

The AKARI IRC asteroid flux catalogue: updated diameters and albedos

Science.gov (United States)

Alí-Lagoa, V.; Müller, T. G.; Usui, F.; Hasegawa, S.

2018-05-01

The AKARI IRC all-sky survey provided more than twenty thousand thermal infrared observations of over five thousand asteroids. Diameters and albedos were obtained by fitting an empirically calibrated version of the standard thermal model to these data. After the publication of the flux catalogue in October 2016, our aim here is to present the AKARI IRC all-sky survey data and discuss valuable scientific applications in the field of small body physical properties studies. As an example, we update the catalogue of asteroid diameters and albedos based on AKARI using the near-Earth asteroid thermal model (NEATM). We fit the NEATM to derive asteroid diameters and, whenever possible, infrared beaming parameters. We fit groups of observations taken for the same object at different epochs of the survey separately, so we compute more than one diameter for approximately half of the catalogue. We obtained a total of 8097 diameters and albedos for 5170 asteroids, and we fitted the beaming parameter for almost two thousand of them. When it was not possible to fit the beaming parameter, we used a straight line fit to our sample's beaming parameter-versus-phase angle plot to set the default value for each fit individually instead of using a single average value. Our diameters agree with stellar-occultation-based diameters well within the accuracy expected for the model. They also match the previous AKARI-based catalogue at phase angles lower than 50°, but we find a systematic deviation at higher phase angles, at which near-Earth and Mars-crossing asteroids were observed. The AKARI IRC All-sky survey is an essential source of information about asteroids, especially the large ones, since, it provides observations at different observation geometries, rotational coverages and aspect angles. For example, by comparing in more detail a few asteroids for which dimensions were derived from occultations, we discuss how the multiple observations per object may already provide three

The Main-belt Asteroid and NEO Tour with Imaging and Spectroscopy (MANTIS)

Science.gov (United States)

Rivkin, A.; Cohen, B. A.; Barnouin, O. S.; Chabot, N. L.; Ernst, C. M.; Klima, R. L.; Helbert, J.; Sternovsky, Z.

2015-12-01

The asteroids preserve information from the earliest times in solar system history, with compositions in the population reflecting the material in the solar nebula and experiencing a wide range of temperatures. Today they experience ongoing processes, some of which are shared with larger bodies but some of which are unique to their size regime. They are critical to humanity's future as potential threats, resource sites, and targets for human visitation. However, over twenty years since the first spacecraft encounters with asteroids, they remain poorly understood. The mission we propose here, the Main-belt Asteroid and NEO Tour with Imaging and Spectroscopy (MANTIS), explores the diversity of asteroids to understand our solar system's past history, its present processes, and future opportunities and hazards. MANTIS addresses many of NASA's highest priorities as laid out in its 2014 Science Plan and provides additional benefit to the Planetary Defense and Human Exploration communities via a low-risk, cost-effective tour of the near-Earth and inner asteroid belt. MANTIS visits the materials that witnessed solar system formation and its earliest history, addressing the NASA goal of exploring and observing the objects in the solar system to understand how they formed and evolve. MANTIS measures OH, water, and organic materials via several complementary techniques, visiting and sampling objects known to have hydrated minerals and addressing the NASA goal of improving our understanding of the origin and evolution of life on Earth. MANTIS studies the geology and geophysics of nine diverse asteroids, with compositions ranging from water-rich to metallic, representatives of both binary and non-binary asteroids, and sizes covering over two orders of magnitude, providing unique information about the chemical and physical processes shaping the asteroids, addressing the NASA goal of advancing the understanding of how the chemical and physical processes in our solar system

ASTEROID LIGHT CURVES FROM THE PALOMAR TRANSIENT FACTORY SURVEY: ROTATION PERIODS AND PHASE FUNCTIONS FROM SPARSE PHOTOMETRY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Waszczak, Adam [Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Chang, Chan-Kao; Cheng, Yu-Chi; Ip, Wing-Huen; Kinoshita, Daisuke [Institute of Astronomy, National Central University, Jhongli, Taiwan (China); Ofek, Eran O. [Benoziyo Center for Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot (Israel); Laher, Russ; Surace, Jason [Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Masci, Frank; Helou, George [Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Levitan, David; Prince, Thomas A.; Kulkarni, Shrinivas, E-mail: waszczak@caltech.edu [Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)

2015-09-15

We fit 54,296 sparsely sampled asteroid light curves in the Palomar Transient Factory survey to a combined rotation plus phase-function model. Each light curve consists of 20 or more observations acquired in a single opposition. Using 805 asteroids in our sample that have reference periods in the literature, we find that the reliability of our fitted periods is a complicated function of the period, amplitude, apparent magnitude, and other light-curve attributes. Using the 805-asteroid ground-truth sample, we train an automated classifier to estimate (along with manual inspection) the validity of the remaining ∼53,000 fitted periods. By this method we find that 9033 of our light curves (of ∼8300 unique asteroids) have “reliable” periods. Subsequent consideration of asteroids with multiple light-curve fits indicates a 4% contamination in these “reliable” periods. For 3902 light curves with sufficient phase-angle coverage and either a reliable fit period or low amplitude, we examine the distribution of several phase-function parameters, none of which are bimodal though all correlate with the bond albedo and with visible-band colors. Comparing the theoretical maximal spin rate of a fluid body with our amplitude versus spin-rate distribution suggests that, if held together only by self-gravity, most asteroids are in general less dense than ∼2 g cm{sup −3}, while C types have a lower limit of between 1 and 2 g cm{sup −3}. These results are in agreement with previous density estimates. For 5–20 km diameters, S types rotate faster and have lower amplitudes than C types. If both populations share the same angular momentum, this may indicate the two types’ differing ability to deform under rotational stress. Lastly, we compare our absolute magnitudes (and apparent-magnitude residuals) to those of the Minor Planet Center’s nominal (G = 0.15, rotation-neglecting) model; our phase-function plus Fourier-series fitting reduces asteroid photometric rms

Abodes for life in carbonaceous asteroids?

Science.gov (United States)

Abramov, Oleg; Mojzsis, Stephen J.

2011-05-01

Thermal evolution models for carbonaceous asteroids that use new data for permeability, pore volume, and water circulation as input parameters provide a window into what are arguably the earliest habitable environments in the Solar System. Plausible models of the Murchison meteorite (CM) parent body show that to first-order, conditions suitable for the stability of liquid water, and thus pre- or post-biotic chemistry, could have persisted within these asteroids for tens of Myr. In particular, our modeling results indicate that a 200-km carbonaceous asteroid with a 40% initial ice content takes almost 60 Myr to cool completely, with habitable temperatures being maintained for ˜24 Myr in the center. Yet, there are a number of indications that even with the requisite liquid water, thermal energy sources to drive chemical gradients, and abundant organic "building blocks" deemed necessary criteria for life, carbonaceous asteroids were intrinsically unfavorable sites for biopoesis. These controls include different degrees of exothermal mineral hydration reactions that boost internal warming but effectively remove liquid water from the system, rapid (1-10 mm yr -1) inward migration of internal habitable volumes in most models, and limitations imposed by low permeabilities and small pore sizes in primitive undifferentiated carbonaceous asteroids. Our results do not preclude the existence of habitable conditions on larger, possibly differentiated objects such as Ceres and the Themis family asteroids due to presumed longer, more intense heating and possible long-lived water reservoirs.

THERMAL TOMOGRAPHY OF ASTEROID SURFACE STRUCTURE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Harris, Alan W.; Drube, Line, E-mail: alan.harris@dlr.de [German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Planetary Research, Rutherfordstrasse 2, D-12489 Berlin (Germany)

2016-12-01

Knowledge of the surface thermal inertia of an asteroid can provide insight into its surface structure: porous material has a lower thermal inertia than rock. We develop a means to estimate thermal inertia values of asteroids and use it to show that thermal inertia appears to increase with spin period in the case of main-belt asteroids (MBAs). Similar behavior is found on the basis of thermophysical modeling for near-Earth objects (NEOs). We interpret our results in terms of rapidly increasing material density and thermal conductivity with depth, and provide evidence that thermal inertia increases by factors of 10 (MBAs) to 20 (NEOs) within a depth of just 10 cm. Our results are consistent with a very general picture of rapidly changing material properties in the topmost regolith layers of asteroids and have important implications for calculations of the Yarkovsky effect, including its perturbation of the orbits of potentially hazardous objects and those of asteroid family members after the break-up event. Evidence of a rapid increase of thermal inertia with depth is also an important result for studies of the ejecta-enhanced momentum transfer of impacting vehicles (“kinetic impactors”) in planetary defense.

Matched Filter Processing for Asteroid Detection

Science.gov (United States)

Gural, Peter S.; Larsen, Jeffrey A.; Gleason, Arianna E.

2005-10-01

Matched filter (MF) processing has been shown to provide significant performance gains when processing stellar imagery used for asteroid detection, recovery, and tracking. This includes extending detection ranges to fainter magnitudes at the noise limit of the imagery and operating in dense cluttered star fields as encountered at low Galactic latitudes. The MF software has been shown to detect 40% more asteroids in high-quality Spacewatch imagery relative to the currently implemented approaches, which are based on moving target indicator (MTI) algorithms. In addition, MF detections were made in dense star fields and in situations in which the asteroid was collocated with a star in an image frame, cases in which the MTI algorithms failed. Thus, using legacy sensors and optics, improved detection sensitivity is achievable by simply upgrading the image-processing stream. This in turn permits surveys of the near-Earth asteroid (NEA) population farther from opposition, for smaller sizes, and in directions previously inaccessible to current NEA search programs. A software package has been developed and made available on the NASA data services Web site that can be used for asteroid detection and recovery operations utilizing the enhanced performance capabilities of MF processing.

Constraining the Source Craters of the Martian Meteorites: Implications for Prioritiziation of Returned Samples from Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Herd, C. D. K.; Tornabene, L. L.; Bowling, T. J.; Walton, E. L.; Sharp, T. G.; Melosh, H. J.; Hamilton, J. S.; Viviano, C. E.; Ehlmann, B. L.

2018-04-01

We have made advances in constraining the potential source craters of the martian meteorites to a relatively small number. Our results have implications for Mars chronology and the prioritization of samples for Mars Sample Return.

A Method of Trajectory Design for Manned Asteroids Exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Gan, Q. B.; Zhang, Y.; Zhu, Z. F.; Han, W. H.; Dong, X.

2014-11-01

A trajectory optimization method of the nuclear propulsion manned asteroids exploration is presented. In the case of launching between 2035 and 2065, based on the Lambert transfer orbit, the phases of departure from and return to the Earth are searched at first. Then the optimal flight trajectory in the feasible regions is selected by pruning the flight sequences. Setting the nuclear propulsion flight plan as propel-coast-propel, and taking the minimal mass of aircraft departure as the index, the nuclear propulsion flight trajectory is separately optimized using a hybrid method. With the initial value of the optimized local parameters of each three phases, the global parameters are jointedly optimized. At last, the minimal departure mass trajectory design result is given.

Spectroscopy of near-Earth asteroids

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Michelsen, René; Nathues, Andreas; Lagerkvist, Claes-Ingvar

2006-01-01

We present spectra and taxonomic classifications of 12 Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and 2 inner Main Belt asteroids. The observations were carried out with the ESO 3.5 m NTT and the Danish 1.54 m telescope at La Silla, Chile. Eleven of the investigated NEAs belong to the S class while only one C-t...

Infrared spectral reflectances of asteroid surfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Larson, H. P.; Veeder, G. J.

1979-01-01

This review compares the types of compositional information produced by three complementary techniques used in infrared observations of asteroid surfaces: broadband JHKL photometry, narrow band photometry, and multiplex spectroscopy. The high information content of these infrared observations permits definitive interpretations of asteroid surface compositions in terms of the major meteoritic minerals (olivine, pyroxene, plagioclase feldspar, hydrous silicates, and metallic Ni-Fe). These studies emphasize the individuality of asteroid surface compositions, the inadequacy of simple comparisons with spectra of meteorites, and the need to coordinate spectral measurements of all types to optimize diagnostic capabilities.

Bayesian modeling of the mass and density of asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Dotson, Jessie L.; Mathias, Donovan

2017-10-01

Mass and density are two of the fundamental properties of any object. In the case of near earth asteroids, knowledge about the mass of an asteroid is essential for estimating the risk due to (potential) impact and planning possible mitigation options. The density of an asteroid can illuminate the structure of the asteroid. A low density can be indicative of a rubble pile structure whereas a higher density can imply a monolith and/or higher metal content. The damage resulting from an impact of an asteroid with Earth depends on its interior structure in addition to its total mass, and as a result, density is a key parameter to understanding the risk of asteroid impact. Unfortunately, measuring the mass and density of asteroids is challenging and often results in measurements with large uncertainties. In the absence of mass / density measurements for a specific object, understanding the range and distribution of likely values can facilitate probabilistic assessments of structure and impact risk. Hierarchical Bayesian models have recently been developed to investigate the mass - radius relationship of exoplanets (Wolfgang, Rogers & Ford 2016) and to probabilistically forecast the mass of bodies large enough to establish hydrostatic equilibrium over a range of 9 orders of magnitude in mass (from planemos to main sequence stars; Chen & Kipping 2017). Here, we extend this approach to investigate the mass and densities of asteroids. Several candidate Bayesian models are presented, and their performance is assessed relative to a synthetic asteroid population. In addition, a preliminary Bayesian model for probablistically forecasting masses and densities of asteroids is presented. The forecasting model is conditioned on existing asteroid data and includes observational errors, hyper-parameter uncertainties and intrinsic scatter.

Planning for the Collection and Analysis of Samples of Martian Granular Materials Potentially to be Returned by Mars Sample Return

Science.gov (United States)

Carrier, B. L.; Beaty, D. W.

2017-12-01

NASA's Mars 2020 rover is scheduled to land on Mars in 2021 and will be equipped with a sampling system capable of collecting rock cores, as well as a specialized drill bit for collecting unconsolidated granular material. A key mission objective is to collect a set of samples that have enough scientific merit to justify returning to Earth. In the case of granular materials, we would like to catalyze community discussion on what we would do with these samples if they arrived in our laboratories, as input to decision-making related to sampling the regolith. Numerous scientific objectives have been identified which could be achieved or significantly advanced via the analysis of martian rocks, "regolith," and gas samples. The term "regolith" has more than one definition, including one that is general and one that is much more specific. For the purpose of this analysis we use the term "granular materials" to encompass the most general meaning and restrict "regolith" to a subset of that. Our working taxonomy includes the following: 1) globally sourced airfall dust (dust); 2) saltation-sized particles (sand); 3) locally sourced decomposed rock (regolith); 4) crater ejecta (ejecta); and, 5) other. Analysis of martian granular materials could serve to advance our understanding areas including habitability and astrobiology, surface-atmosphere interactions, chemistry, mineralogy, geology and environmental processes. Results of these analyses would also provide input into planning for future human exploration of Mars, elucidating possible health and mechanical hazards caused by the martian surface material, as well as providing valuable information regarding available resources for ISRU and civil engineering purposes. Results would also be relevant to matters of planetary protection and ground-truthing orbital observations. We will present a preliminary analysis of the following, in order to generate community discussion and feedback on all issues relating to: What are the

The asteroid 2014 JO25

Science.gov (United States)

Vodniza, Alberto; Pereira, Mario

2017-10-01

The asteroid 2014 JO25 was discovered by A. D. Grauer at the Mt. Lemmon Survey on May 2014, and Joe Masiero used observations from the NEOWISE in 2014 to estimate a diameter of 650 meters [1]. However, using the radio telescope at Arecibo-Puerto Rico, astronomers obtained radar images on April 17-2017 and Edgar Rivera Valentín (scientist at Arecibo) said: “We found 2014 JO25 is a contact binary asteroid, two space rocks that were originally separate bodies, and each segment is about 640 meters and 670 meters, for a total of about 1.3 km long. Its rotation is of 3.5 hours” [2]. This asteroid flew past Earth on April 19 at a distance of about 4.6 lunar distances from the Earth. This was the closest approach by an asteroid since 4179 Toutatis. Toutatis flew past Earth on September 2004 at a distance of about 4 lunar distances from the Earth [3]. In April 12-2020 the asteroid will be at a minimum possible distance of 0.1617280 A.U from Earth [4]. From our observatory, located in Pasto-Colombia, we obtained a lot of pictures. Our data was published by the Minor Planet Center [5] and also appears at the web page of NEODyS [6]. Astrometry and photometry were carried out, and we calculated the orbital elements. We obtained the following orbital parameters: eccentricity=0.88454+/-0.00152, semi-major axis= 2.0573+/- 0.0216 A.U, orbital inclination=25.22+/-0.10 deg, longitude of the ascending node =30.6530+/-0.0032 deg, argument of perihelion=49.586+/-0.012 deg, mean motion = 0.33402+/-0.00527 deg/d, perihelion distance=0.237524+/-0.000644 A.U, aphelion distance=3.8770+/-0.0449 A.U, absolute magnitude =18.1. The parameters were calculated based on 164 observations. Dates: 2017 April: 22 to 24 with mean residual=0.22 arcseconds.The asteroid has an orbital period of 2.95 years.[1] https://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/2014JO25/2014JO25_planning.html[2] http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/large-asteroid-2014-jo25-close-april-19-2017-how-to-see[3] https

Investigating the origin of the asteroids and early findings on Vesta historical studies in asteroid research

CERN Document Server

Cunningham, Clifford J

2017-01-01

This book assesses the origin of asteroids by analyzing the discovery of Vesta in 1807. Wilhelm Olbers, who discovered Vesta, suggested that the asteroids were the result of a primordial planet’s explosion. Cunningham studies that idea in detail through the writings of Sir David Brewster in Scotland, the era's most prolific writer about the asteroids. He also examines the link between meteorites and asteroids, revealing a synergy between Ernst Chladni, Romantic symbolism, and the music of the spheres. Vesta was a lightning rod for controversy throughout the nineteenth century with observers arguing over its size and color, and the astounding notion that it was self-luminous. It was also a major force for change, as new methods in the field of celestial mechanics were developed to study the orbital perturbations it is subject to. A large selection of private correspondence and scientific papers complete the first comprehensive historical study of Vesta ever published. With a synoptic look at the four astero...

A retrograde co-orbital asteroid of Jupiter.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiegert, Paul; Connors, Martin; Veillet, Christian

2017-03-29

Recent theoretical work in celestial mechanics has revealed that an asteroid may orbit stably in the same region as a planet, despite revolving around the Sun in the sense opposite to that of the planet itself. Asteroid 2015 BZ 509 was discovered in 2015, but with too much uncertainty in its measured orbit to establish whether it was such a retrograde co-orbital body. Here we report observations and analysis that demonstrates that asteroid 2015 BZ 509 is indeed a retrograde co-orbital asteroid of the planet Jupiter. We find that 2015 BZ 509 has long-term stability, having been in its current, resonant state for around a million years. This is long enough to preclude precise calculation of the time or mechanism of its injection to its present state, but it may be a Halley-family comet that entered the resonance through an interaction with Saturn. Retrograde co-orbital asteroids of Jupiter and other planets may be more common than previously expected.

Computation of Asteroid Proper Elements: Recent Advances

Science.gov (United States)

Knežević, Z.

2017-12-01

The recent advances in computation of asteroid proper elements are briefly reviewed. Although not representing real breakthroughs in computation and stability assessment of proper elements, these advances can still be considered as important improvements offering solutions to some practical problems encountered in the past. The problem of getting unrealistic values of perihelion frequency for very low eccentricity orbits is solved by computing frequencies using the frequency-modified Fourier transform. The synthetic resonant proper elements adjusted to a given secular resonance helped to prove the existence of Astraea asteroid family. The preliminary assessment of stability with time of proper elements computed by means of the analytical theory provides a good indication of their poorer performance with respect to their synthetic counterparts, and advocates in favor of ceasing their regular maintenance; the final decision should, however, be taken on the basis of more comprehensive and reliable direct estimate of their individual and sample average deviations from constancy.

NEOWISE Reactivation Mission Year Three: Asteroid Diameters and Albedos

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Masiero, Joseph R.; Mainzer, A. K.; Kramer, E.; Nugent, C.; Cutri, R. M.; Wright, E. L.; Bauer, J. M.; Grav, T.; Sonnett, S.

2017-01-01

The Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) reactivation mission has completed its third year of surveying the sky in the thermal infrared for near-Earth asteroids and comets. NEOWISE collects simultaneous observations at 3.4 and 4.6  μ m of solar system objects passing through its field of regard. These data allow for the determination of total thermal emission from bodies in the inner solar system, and thus the sizes of these objects. In this paper, we present thermal model fits of asteroid diameters for 170 NEOs and 6110 Main Belt asteroids (MBAs) detected during the third year of the survey, as well as the associated optical geometric albedos. We compare our results with previous thermal model results from NEOWISE for overlapping sample sets, as well as diameters determined through other independent methods, and find that our diameter measurements for NEOs agree to within 26% (1 σ ) of previously measured values. Diameters for the MBAs are within 17% (1 σ ). This brings the total number of unique near-Earth objects characterized by the NEOWISE survey to 541, surpassing the number observed during the fully cryogenic mission in 2010.

NEOWISE Reactivation Mission Year Three: Asteroid Diameters and Albedos

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Masiero, Joseph R.; Mainzer, A. K.; Kramer, E. [Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 183-301, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Nugent, C.; Cutri, R. M. [California Institute of Technology, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, 1200 California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Wright, E. L. [University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States); Bauer, J. M. [University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 (United States); Grav, T.; Sonnett, S., E-mail: Joseph.Masiero@jpl.nasa.gov [Planetary Science Institute, 1700 E Fort Lowell Road #106, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States)

2017-10-01

The Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) reactivation mission has completed its third year of surveying the sky in the thermal infrared for near-Earth asteroids and comets. NEOWISE collects simultaneous observations at 3.4 and 4.6  μ m of solar system objects passing through its field of regard. These data allow for the determination of total thermal emission from bodies in the inner solar system, and thus the sizes of these objects. In this paper, we present thermal model fits of asteroid diameters for 170 NEOs and 6110 Main Belt asteroids (MBAs) detected during the third year of the survey, as well as the associated optical geometric albedos. We compare our results with previous thermal model results from NEOWISE for overlapping sample sets, as well as diameters determined through other independent methods, and find that our diameter measurements for NEOs agree to within 26% (1 σ ) of previously measured values. Diameters for the MBAs are within 17% (1 σ ). This brings the total number of unique near-Earth objects characterized by the NEOWISE survey to 541, surpassing the number observed during the fully cryogenic mission in 2010.

A Probabilistic Asteroid Impact Risk Model

Science.gov (United States)

Mathias, Donovan L.; Wheeler, Lorien F.; Dotson, Jessie L.

2016-01-01

Asteroid threat assessment requires the quantification of both the impact likelihood and resulting consequence across the range of possible events. This paper presents a probabilistic asteroid impact risk (PAIR) assessment model developed for this purpose. The model incorporates published impact frequency rates with state-of-the-art consequence assessment tools, applied within a Monte Carlo framework that generates sets of impact scenarios from uncertain parameter distributions. Explicit treatment of atmospheric entry is included to produce energy deposition rates that account for the effects of thermal ablation and object fragmentation. These energy deposition rates are used to model the resulting ground damage, and affected populations are computed for the sampled impact locations. The results for each scenario are aggregated into a distribution of potential outcomes that reflect the range of uncertain impact parameters, population densities, and strike probabilities. As an illustration of the utility of the PAIR model, the results are used to address the question of what minimum size asteroid constitutes a threat to the population. To answer this question, complete distributions of results are combined with a hypothetical risk tolerance posture to provide the minimum size, given sets of initial assumptions. Model outputs demonstrate how such questions can be answered and provide a means for interpreting the effect that input assumptions and uncertainty can have on final risk-based decisions. Model results can be used to prioritize investments to gain knowledge in critical areas or, conversely, to identify areas where additional data has little effect on the metrics of interest.

Numerical simulations of surface package landing on a low-gravity granular surface: application to the landing of MASCOT onboard HAYABUSA 2

OpenAIRE

Thuillet, F.; Maurel, C.; Michel, P.; Biele, Jens; Ballouz, Ronald; Richardson, D. C.

2017-01-01

The asteroid sample return mission, Hayabusa2 JAXA) was launched on December 3rd, 2014. It will reach the C-type near-Earth asteroid (162173) Ryugu in 2018 and bring back samples from its surface to Earth in 2020. Hayabusa2 will release the European (DLR/CNES) lander MASCOT (Mobile Asteroid SCOuT) on the asteroid surface to perform in-situ measurements [1]. Ryugu’s surface is expected to be composed of a gran- ular layer (regolith), whose physical properties are currently unknown. MASCOT’s...

BILLIARDS: Baseline Instrumented Lithology Lander, Inspector and Asteroid Redirection Demonstration System

Science.gov (United States)

Marcus, Matthew; Sloane, Joshua; Ortiz, Oliver; Barbee, Brent

2015-01-01

BILLIARDS Baseline Instrumented Lithology Lander, Inspector, and Asteroid Redirection Demonstration System Proposed demonstration mission for Billiard-Ball concept Select asteroid pair with natural close approach to minimize cost and complexity Primary Objectives Rendezvous with a small (10m), near Earth (alpha) asteroid Maneuver the alpha asteroid to a collision with a 100m (beta) asteroid Produce a detectable deflection or disruption of the beta asteroid Secondary objectives Contribute knowledge of asteroid composition and characteristics Contribute knowledge of small-body formation Opportunity for international collaboration

The Proposed Mars Astrobiology Explorer - Cacher [MAX-C] Rover: First Step in a Potential Sample Return Campaign

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Carlton C.; Beaty, David W.

2010-01-01

Sample return from Mars has been advocated by numerous scientific advisory panels for over 30 years, most prominently beginning with the National Research Council s [1] strategy for the exploration of the inner solar system, and most recently by the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG s) Next Decade Science Analysis Group [2]. Analysis of samples here on Earth would have enormous advantages over in situ analyses in producing the data quality needed to address many of the complex scientific questions the community has posed about Mars. Instead of a small, predetermined set of analytical techniques, state of the art preparative and instrumental resources of the entire scientific community could be applied to the samples. The analytical emphasis could shift as the meaning of each result becomes better appreciated. These arguments apply both to igneous rocks and to layered sedimentary materials, either of which could contain water and other volatile constituents. In 2009 MEPAG formed the Mid-Range Rover Science Analysis Group (MRR-SAG) to formulate a mission concept that would address two general objectives: (1) conduct high-priority in situ science and (2) make concrete steps towards the potential return of samples to Earth. This analysis resulted in a mission concept named the Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher (MAX-C), which was envisioned for launch in the 2018 opportunity. After extensive discussion, this group concluded that by far the most definitive contribution to sample return by this mission would be to collect and cache, in an accessible location, a suite of compelling samples that could potentially be recovered and returned by a subsequent mission. This would have the effect of separating two of the essential functions of MSR, the acquisition of the sample collection and its delivery to martian orbit, into two missions.

Enabling Global Lunar Sample Return and Life-Detection Studies Using a Deep-Space Gateway

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, B. A.; Eigenbrode, J. A.; Young, K. E.; Bleacher, J. E.; Trainer, M. E.

2018-02-01

The Deep Space Gateway could uniquely enable a lunar robotic sampling campaign that would provide incredible science return as well as feed forward to Mars and Europa by testing instrument sterility and ability to distinguish biogenic signals.

Technology Development of Automated Rendezvous and Docking/Capture Sensors and Docking Mechanism for the Asteroid Redirect Crewed Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Hinkel, Heather; Strube, Matthew; Zipay, John J.; Cryan, Scott

2016-01-01

This paper will describe the technology development efforts NASA has underway for Automated Rendezvous and Docking/Capture (AR&D/C) sensors and a docking mechanism and the challenges involved. The paper will additionally address how these technologies will be extended to other missions requiring AR&D/C whether robotic or manned. NASA needs AR&D/C sensors for both the robotic and crewed segments of the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM). NASA recently conducted a commonality assessment of the concept of operations for the robotic Asteroid Redirect Vehicle (ARV) and the crewed mission segment using the Orion spacecraft. The commonality assessment also considered several future exploration and science missions requiring an AR&D/C capability. Missions considered were asteroid sample return, satellite servicing, and planetary entry, descent, and landing. This assessment determined that a common sensor suite consisting of one or more visible wavelength cameras, a three-dimensional LIDAR along with long-wavelength infrared cameras for robustness and situational awareness could be used on each mission to eliminate the cost of multiple sensor developments and qualifications. By choosing sensor parameters at build-time instead of at design-time and, without having to requalify flight hardware, a specific mission can design overlapping bearing, range, relative attitude, and position measurement availability to suit their mission requirements with minimal non-recurring engineering costs. The resulting common sensor specification provides the union of all performance requirements for each mission and represents an improvement over the current systems used for AR&D/C today. These sensor specifications are tightly coupled to the docking system capabilities and requirements for final docking conditions. The paper will describe NASA's efforts to develop a standard docking system for use across NASA human spaceflight missions to multiple destinations. It will describe the current

Amino Acids in Asteroids and Comets: Implications for the Origin of Life on Earth and Possibly Elsewhere

Science.gov (United States)

Glavin, Daniel

2012-01-01

Meteorites provide a record of the chemical processes that occurred in the early solar system before life began on Earth. The delivery of organic matter by asteroids, comets, and their fragments to the Earth and other planetary bodies in our solar system could have been an important source of the prebiotic organic inventory needed for the emergence of life. Amino acids are essential components of proteins and enzymes in life on Earth and these prebiotic organic compounds have been detected in a wide variety of carbon-rich meteorites, the majority of which have been determined to be extraterrestrial in origin. In addition, many amino acids are structurally chiral (they possess handedness) and with a few very rare exceptions, only left handed (L) amino acids are found in biology, while all known abiotic syntheses of amino acids result in equal mixtures of left and right handed (LD) amino acids. The discovery of a significant left handed amino acid imbalance of up to 20% in several different carbonaceous meteorites, could point toward a possible prebiotic contribution to the origin of biological homochirality by the exogenous delivery of extraterrestrial organic material to the early Earth. In this talk, I will focus on recent state-of-the-art measurements of the distribution, chirality, and isotopic composition of amino acids in meteorites and cometary samples carried out at the Goddard Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory. Results from the analyses of a variety of Antarctic meteorites, samples from comet Wild 2 returned by the STARDUST mission, and meteorite fragments of asteroid 2008 TC3 called Almahata Sitta recovered from northern Sudan will be discussed

Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) and Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA) as Critical In Situ Investigation for Targeting Mars Returned Samples

Science.gov (United States)

Freissinet, C.; Glavin, D. P.; Mahaffy, P. R.; Szopa, C.; Buch, A.; Goesmann, F.; Goetz, W.; Raulin, F.; SAM Science Team; MOMA Science Team

2018-04-01

SAM (Curiosity) and MOMA (ExoMars) Mars instruments, seeking for organics and biosignatures, are essential to establish taphonomic windows of preservation of molecules, in order to target the most interesting samples to return from Mars.

Seeking Signs of Life on Mars: The Importance of Sedimentary Suites as Part of Mars Sample Return

Science.gov (United States)

iMOST Team; Mangold, N.; McLennan, S. M.; Czaja, A. D.; Ori, G. G.; Tosca, N. J.; Altieri, F.; Amelin, Y.; Ammannito, E.; Anand, M.; Beaty, D. W.; Benning, L. G.; Bishop, J. L.; Borg, L. E.; Boucher, D.; Brucato, J. R.; Busemann, H.; Campbell, K. A.; Carrier, B. L.; Debaille, V.; Des Marais, D. J.; Dixon, M.; Ehlmann, B. L.; Farmer, J. D.; Fernandez-Remolar, D. C.; Fogarty, J.; Glavin, D. P.; Goreva, Y. S.; Grady, M. M.; Hallis, L. J.; Harrington, A. D.; Hausrath, E. M.; Herd, C. D. K.; Horgan, B.; Humayun, M.; Kleine, T.; Kleinhenz, J.; Mackelprang, R.; Mayhew, L. E.; McCubbin, F. M.; McCoy, J. T.; McSween, H. Y.; Moser, D. E.; Moynier, F.; Mustard, J. F.; Niles, P. B.; Raulin, F.; Rettberg, P.; Rucker, M. A.; Schmitz, N.; Sefton-Nash, E.; Sephton, M. A.; Shaheen, R.; Shuster, D. L.; Siljestrom, S.; Smith, C. L.; Spry, J. A.; Steele, A.; Swindle, T. D.; ten Kate, I. L.; Usui, T.; Van Kranendonk, M. J.; Wadhwa, M.; Weiss, B. P.; Werner, S. C.; Westall, F.; Wheeler, R. M.; Zipfel, J.; Zorzano, M. P.

2018-04-01

Sedimentary, and especially lacustrine, depositional environments are high-priority geological/astrobiological settings for Mars Sample Return. We review the detailed investigations, measurements, and sample types required to evaluate such settings.

System for Packaging Planetary Samples for Return to Earth

Science.gov (United States)

Badescu, Mircea; Bar-Cohen, Yoseph; Backes, paul G.; Sherrit, Stewart; Bao, Xiaoqi; Scott, James S.

2010-01-01

A system is proposed for packaging material samples on a remote planet (especially Mars) in sealed sample tubes in preparation for later return to Earth. The sample tubes (Figure 1) would comprise (1) tubes initially having open tops and closed bottoms; (2) small, bellows-like collapsible bodies inside the tubes at their bottoms; and (3) plugs to be eventually used to close the tops of the tubes. The top inner surface of each tube would be coated with solder. The side of each plug, which would fit snugly into a tube, would feature a solder-filled ring groove. The system would include equipment for storing, manipulating, filling, and sealing the tubes. The containerization system (see Figure 2) will be organized in stations and will include: the storage station, the loading station, and the heating station. These stations can be structured in circular or linear pattern to minimize the manipulator complexity, allowing for compact design and mass efficiency. The manipulation of the sample tube between stations is done by a simple manipulator arm. The storage station contains the unloaded sample tubes and the plugs before sealing as well as the sealed sample tubes with samples after loading and sealing. The chambers at the storage station also allow for plug insertion into the sample tube. At the loading station the sample is poured or inserted into the sample tube and then the tube is topped off. At the heating station the plug is heated so the solder ring melts and seals the plug to the sample tube. The process is performed as follows: Each tube is filled or slightly overfilled with sample material and the excess sample material is wiped off the top. Then, the plug is inserted into the top section of the tube packing the sample material against the collapsible bellowslike body allowing the accommodation of the sample volume. The plug and the top of the tube are heated momentarily to melt the solder in order to seal the tube.

Photometry of the bright and dark terrains of Vesta and Lutetia with comparison to other asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Longobardo, A.; Palomba, E.; Capaccioni, F.; De Sanctis, M.; Tosi, F.; Schroder, S.; Li, J.; Capria, M.; Ammannito, E.; Raymond, C.; Russell, C.

2014-07-01

The reflectance of a planetary surface as measured at different phase angles can provide useful information about several properties, both optical (importance of multiple and single scattering, regolith shadowing) and physical (roughness and regolith grain size). In particular, disk-resolved observations allow one to monitor photometric properties variations across a planetary surface. In this work, we retrieved disk-resolved phase functions of asteroids Vesta and Lutetia, by means of hyperspectral images returned by the Visible and InfraRed (VIR) mapping spectrometer onboard NASA's Dawn spacecraft, and the Visible, InfraRed, and Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS), onboard ESA's Rosetta spacecraft, respectively. Then we compared their photometric properties with those obtained of other asteroids closely explored by space missions (Gaspra, Ida, Eros, Annefrank, Steins, Mathilde). The trend of reflectance as a function of phase angle has been obtained by undertaking a statistical analysis, based on the empirical definition of reflectance families. For each family, the relation between reflectance and phase has been then calculated. On Vesta, we find steeper phase functions in dark material units, which become flatter with increasing albedo. This has been ascribed to a relevant role of multiple scattering in bright regions. As opposed to Vesta, Lutetia is a more homogeneous body. Hence we can consider a unique phase function for the whole asteroid surface. We chose two parameters useful to describe the photometric behavior of these asteroids: the reflectance which would be observed at a 30° phase, tagged R30, and the ''phase slope'' or the reflectance percent decrease between 20° and 60° phase, tagged PS. These two parameters have been calculated also on disk-resolved phase functions of other asteroids available in literature. We find that all S-type asteroids place in the same region of the R30-PS scatterplot, due to their similar photometric properties. C

Tumbling asteroids

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Pravec, Petr; Harris, A. W.; Scheirich, Peter; Kušnirák, Peter; Kotková, Lenka; Hergenrother, C.; Mottola, S.; Hicks, M. D.; Masi, G.; Krugly, Yu. N.; Shevchenko, V. G.; Nolan, M. C.; Howell, E. S.; Kaasalainen, M.; Galád, Adrián; Brown, P.; DeGraff, D. R.; Lambert, J.V.; Cooney, W.R.; Foglia, S.

2005-01-01

Roč. 1, č. 173 (2005), s. 108-131 ISSN 0019-1035 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA3003204 Keywords : near-Earth objects * fast-rotating asteroids Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 3.244, year: 2005

Capture orbits around asteroids by hitting zero-velocity curves

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Wei; Yang, Hongwei; Zhang, Wei; Ma, Guangfu

2017-12-01

The problem of capturing a spacecraft from a heliocentric orbit into a high parking orbit around binary asteroids is investigated in the current study. To reduce the braking Δ V, a new capture strategy takes advantage of the three-body gravity of the binary asteroid to lower the inertial energy before applying the Δ V. The framework of the circular restricted three-body problem (CR3BP) is employed for the binary asteroid system. The proposed capture strategy is based on the mechanism by which inertial energy can be decreased sharply near zero-velocity curves (ZVCs). The strategy has two steps, namely, hitting the target ZVC and raising the periapsis by a small Δ V at the apoapsis. By hitting the target ZVC, the positive inertial energy decreases and becomes negative. Using a small Δ V, the spacecraft inserts into a bounded orbit around the asteroid. In addition, a rotating mass dipole model is employed for elongated asteroids, which leads to dynamics similar to that of the CR3BP. With this approach, the proposed capture strategy can be applied to elongated asteroids. Numerical simulations validate that the proposed capture strategy is applicable for the binary asteroid 90 Antiope and the elongated asteroid 216 Kleopatra.

Size-dependent modification of asteroid family Yarkovsky V-shapes

Science.gov (United States)

Bolin, B. T.; Morbidelli, A.; Walsh, K. J.

2018-04-01

Context. The thermal properties of the surfaces of asteroids determine the magnitude of the drift rate cause by the Yarkovsky force. In the general case of Main Belt asteroids, the Yarkovsky force is indirectly proportional to the thermal inertia, Γ. Aim. Following the proposed relationship between Γ and asteroid diameter D, we find that asteroids' Yarkovsky drift rates might have a more complex size dependence than previous thought, leading to a curved family V-shape boundary in semi-major axis, a, vs. 1/D space. This implies that asteroids are drifting faster at larger sizes than previously considered decreasing on average the known ages of asteroid families. Methods: The V-Shape curvature is determined for >25 families located throughout the Main Belt to quantify the Yarkovsky size-dependent drift rate. Results: We find that there is no correlation between family age and V-shape curvature. In addition, the V-shape curvature decreases for asteroid families with larger heliocentric distances suggesting that the relationship between Γ and D is weaker in the outer MB possibly due to homogenous surface roughness among family members.

Dynamical properties of the Watsonia asteroid family

Science.gov (United States)

Tsirvoulis, G.; Novakovic, B.; Knezevic, Z.; Cellino, A.

2014-07-01

Introduction: In recent years, a rare class of asteroids has been discovered [1], with its distinguishing characteristic being the anomalous polarimetric properties of its members. Named Barbarians, after (234) Barbara, the prototype of the class, these asteroids show negative polarization at unusually high phase-angles compared to normal asteroids. Motivated by the fact that some of the few discovered Barbarians seemed to be related to the Watsonia asteroid family, Cellino et al. [2] performed a search for more Barbarians among its members. A positive result of this search led to the conclusion that Watsonia is indeed an important repository of Barbarian asteroids. Based on these findings, we decided to analyze this family in detail. Basic information: According to available data, Watsonia is an L-type asteroid family, located in the middle of the main asteroid belt (2.68 < a_{p} < 2.82 au), with low to moderate orbital eccentricities (0.1 < e_{p} < 0.15) and relatively high inclinations (16.5^{o} < i_{p} < 18^{o}). Methodology: The first step in our study is to derive a reliable list of Watsonia family members. To that purpose, we first calculate the synthetic proper elements [3] of an extended catalogue including numbered, as well as multi and single opposition asteroids, in a wide region around the family. To this catalogue we apply the Hierarchical Clustering Method (HCM)[4] to determine the membership of the family, coinciding with the requirement that all confirmed neighboring Barbarians are included (see figure). To detect potential interlopers and refine the membership list, additional data such as the SDSS colors and WISE albedos are used. Moreover, we identify all relevant resonances and analyze the dynamical characteristics of the region occupied by the family. Then we estimate the age of the family, and finally, we perform numerical integrations of test particles to investigate possible dynamical links to other known Barbarians and to the near

Asteroids II

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Binzel, R.P.; Gehrels, T.; Matthews, M.S.

1989-01-01

This book presents an introduction to asteroids. A description of exploration techniques, details on their physical properties, discussions of their origin and evolution, an examination of their interrelations with meteorites and comets followed by an attempt at a big picture framework are given

Water in the Early Solar System: Infrared Studies of Aqueously Altered and Minimally Processed Asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

McAdam, Margaret M.

This thesis investigates connections between low albedo asteroids and carbonaceous chondrite meteorites using spectroscopy. Meteorites and asteroids preserve information about the early solar system including accretion processes and parent body processes active on asteroids at these early times. One process of interest is aqueous alteration. This is the chemical reaction between coaccreted water and silicates producing hydrated minerals. Some carbonaceous chondrites have experienced extensive interactions with water through this process. Since these meteorites and their parent bodies formed close to the beginning of the Solar System, these asteroids and meteorites may provide clues to the distribution, abundance and timing of water in the Solar nebula at these times. Chapter 2 of this thesis investigates the relationships between extensively aqueously altered meteorites and their visible, near and mid-infrared spectral features in a coordinated spectral-mineralogical study. Aqueous alteration is a parent body process where initially accreted anhydrous minerals are converted into hydrated minerals in the presence of coaccreted water. Using samples of meteorites with known bulk properties, it is possible to directly connect changes in mineralogy caused by aqueous alteration with spectral features. Spectral features in the mid-infrared are found to change continuously with increasing amount of hydrated minerals or degree of alteration. Building on this result, the degrees of alteration of asteroids are estimated in a survey of new asteroid data obtained from SOFIA and IRTF as well as archived the Spitzer Space Telescope data. 75 observations of 73 asteroids are analyzed and presented in Chapter 4. Asteroids with hydrated minerals are found throughout the main belt indicating that significant ice must have been present in the disk at the time of carbonaceous asteroid accretion. Finally, some carbonaceous chondrite meteorites preserve amorphous iron-bearing materials

Spectroscopy and Photometry of CAI-rich asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Tanga, P.; Devogele, M.; Bendjoya, Ph.; Cellino, A.; Surdej, J.

2017-09-01

Asteroids with an anomalous amount of primitive elements, formed in ancient times in the solar nebula, exist. Our study confirms their nature and provides hints to the interpretation of the ancient evolution of asteroids.

A Survey of Rotation Lightcurves of Small Jovian Trojan Asteroids in the L4 Cloud

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French, Linda M.; Stephens, Robert; Warner, Brian; James, David; Rohl, Derrick; Connour, Kyle

2017-10-01

Jovian Trojan asteroids are of interest both as objects in their own right and as possible relics of Solar System formation. Several lines of evidence support a common origin for, and possible hereditary link between, Jovian Trojan asteroids and cometary nuclei. Asteroid lightcurves give information about processes that have affected a group of asteroids including their density. Due to their distance and low albedos, few comet-sized Trojans have been studied. We have been carrying out a survey of Trojan lightcurve properties comparing small Trojan asteroids with comets (French et al 2015). We present new lightcurve information for 39 Trojans less than about 35 km in diameter. We report our latest results and compare them with results from the sparsely-sampled lightcurves from the Palomar Transient Factory (Waszazak et al., Chang et al. 2015). The minimum densities for objects with complete lightcurves are estimated and are found to becomparable to those measured for cometary nuclei. A significant fraction (~40%) of thisobserved small Trojan population rotates slowly (P > 24 hours), with measured periods as over 500 hours (Waszczak et al 2015). The excess of slow rotators may be due to the YORP effect. Results of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test suggest that the distribution of Trojan rotation rates is dissimilar to those of Main Belt Asteroids of the same size.

Strategies for Distinguishing Abiotic Chemistry from Martian Biochemistry in Samples Returned from Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Glavin, D. P.; Burton, A. S.; Callahan, M. P.; Elsila, J. E.; Stern, J. C.; Dworkin, J. P.

2012-01-01

A key goal in the search for evidence of extinct or extant life on Mars will be the identification of chemical biosignatures including complex organic molecules common to all life on Earth. These include amino acids, the monomer building blocks of proteins and enzymes, and nucleobases, which serve as the structural basis of information storage in DNA and RNA. However, many of these organic compounds can also be formed abiotically as demonstrated by their prevalence in carbonaceous meteorites [1]. Therefore, an important challenge in the search for evidence of life on Mars will be distinguishing between abiotic chemistry of either meteoritic or martian origin from any chemical biosignatures from an extinct or extant martian biota. Although current robotic missions to Mars, including the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and the planned 2018 ExoMars rovers, will have the analytical capability needed to identify these key classes of organic molecules if present [2,3], return of a diverse suite of martian samples to Earth would allow for much more intensive laboratory studies using a broad array of extraction protocols and state-of-theart analytical techniques for bulk and spatially resolved characterization, molecular detection, and isotopic and enantiomeric compositions that may be required for unambiguous confirmation of martian life. Here we will describe current state-of-the-art laboratory analytical techniques that have been used to characterize the abundance and distribution of amino acids and nucleobases in meteorites, Apollo samples, and comet- exposed materials returned by the Stardust mission with an emphasis on their molecular characteristics that can be used to distinguish abiotic chemistry from biochemistry as we know it. The study of organic compounds in carbonaceous meteorites is highly relevant to Mars sample return analysis, since exogenous organic matter should have accumulated in the martian regolith over the last several billion years and the

An Investigation of the Ranges of Validity of Asteroid Thermal Models for Near-Earth Asteroid Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Mommert, M.; Jedicke, R.; Trilling, D. E.

2018-02-01

The majority of known asteroid diameters are derived from thermal-infrared observations. Diameters are derived using asteroid thermal models that approximate their surface temperature distributions and compare the measured thermal-infrared flux with model-dependent predictions. The most commonly used thermal model is the Near-Earth Asteroid Thermal Model (NEATM), which is usually perceived as superior to other models like the Fast-Rotating Model (FRM). We investigate the applicability of the NEATM and the FRM to thermal-infrared observations of Near-Earth Objects using synthetic asteroids with properties based on the real Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) population. We find the NEATM to provide more accurate diameters and albedos than the FRM in most cases, with a few exceptions. The modeling results are barely affected by the physical properties of the objects, but we find a large impact of the solar phase angle on the modeling results. We conclude that the NEATM provides statistically more robust diameter estimates for NEAs observed at solar phase angles less than ∼65°, while the FRM provides more robust diameter estimates for solar phase angles greater than ∼65°. We estimate that <5% of all NEA diameters and albedos derived up to date are affected by systematic effects that are of the same order of magnitude as the typical thermal model uncertainties. We provide statistical correction functions for diameters and albedos derived using the NEATM and FRM as a function of solar phase angle.

Asteroid Shapes Are Always Close To Fluid Equilibrium

Science.gov (United States)

Tanga, Paolo; Comito, C.; Hestroffer, D.; Richardson, D. C.

2010-10-01

The simple evidence that asteroid are composed by solid rocks suggests that their shape can be rather far from the theoretical equilibrium for rotating fluid bodies. The possible fragmented ("rubble-pile") nature of most of them has suggested interpretations based on elasto-plastic models (such as the Mohr-Coulomb theory) that take into account the static behavior of a granular structure. However, these approaches did not incorporate explicitly the possible evolution of shapes in time due to external factors such as crater forming impacts or tidal deformations. We revisited the theory of equilibrium shapes for fluids, quantitatively evaluating - by appropriate metrics - the distance of the observed shapes from fluid equilibrium. This distance turns out to be much smaller than previously expected. On the basis of this evidence, we simulated numerically the evolution of gravitational aggregates having a small degree of internal friction, consistent with the theoretical findings. Our results offer a global scenario for the evolution of asteroid shapes under the action of gradual stresses due to minor impacts, tidal forces and seismic shaking. We show that actual asteroid shapes are consistent with the evolution of aggregates tending towards minimum free energy states. We are able to explain the samples of observed shapes obtained by different techniques. Our findings strongly support a highly porous and fragmented nature for most asteroids, at least in an external layer. Reference: Tanga et al. 2009: ApJ Letters, 706, 1, L197-L202 Acknowledgments: PT and CC have been supported by the "Programme Nationale de Planetologie" of France; DCR acknowledges support by the NASA (grant no. NNX08AM39G issued through the Office of Space Science) and by the NSF (grant no. AST0708110).

Size distributions of member asteroids in seven Hirayama families

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mikami, Takao; Ishida, Keiichi.

1990-01-01

The size distributions of asteroids in the seven Hirayama families are studied for newly assigned member asteroids in the diameter range of about 10 to 100 km. The size distributions for the different families are expressed by the power-law functions with distinctly different power-law indices. The power-law indices for families with small mean orbital inclinations are about 2.5 to 3.0. On the other hand, the power-law indices for families with large mean orbital inclinations are significantly smaller than 2.5. This indicates that the smaller asteroids were removed preferentially from these families after their formation. It is thought that the smaller asteroids left behind the families were dispersed into the main belt. It is consistent with the fact that the power-law index for the size distribution of asteroids with diameters smaller than 25 km in the main belt is larger than the power-law indices for the size distributions of asteroids in the families. This segregation due to the asteroid size can be caused by a drag force caused by the ambient matter deposited on the invariable place of the solar system during the early evolutionary stage. (author)

Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment mission: Kinetic impactor

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Cheng, A.F.; Michel, R.; Jutzi, M.; Rivkin, A. S.; Stickle, A.; Barnouin, O.; Ernst, C.; Atchison, J.; Pravec, Petr; Richardson, D.C.

2016-01-01

Roč. 121, February (2016), s. 25-37 ISSN 0032-0633 Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : planetary defense * near- Earth asteroids * asteroid impact hazards Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 1.892, year: 2016

Arecibo and Goldstone radar images of near-Earth Asteroid (469896) 2005 WC1

Science.gov (United States)

Lawrence, Kenneth J.; Benner, Lance A. M.; Brozovic, Marina; Ostro, Steven J.; Jao, Joseph S.; Giorgini, Jon D.; Slade, Martin A.; Jurgens, Raymond F.; Nolan, Michael C.; Howell, Ellen S.; Taylor, Patrick A.

2018-01-01

We report radar observations of near-Earth asteroid (469896) 2005 WC1 that were obtained at Arecibo (2380 MHz, 13 cm) and Goldstone (8560 MHz, 3.5 cm) on 2005 December 14-15 during the asteroid's approach within 0.020 au The asteroid was a strong radar target. Delay-Doppler images with resolutions as fine as 15 m/pixel were obtained with 2 samples per baud giving a correlated pixel resolution of 7.5 m. The radar images reveal an angular object with 100 m-scale surface facets, radar-dark regions, and an estimated diameter of 400 ± 50 m. The rotation of the facets in the images gives a rotation period of ∼2.6 h that is consistent with the estimated period of 2.582 h ± 0.002 h from optical lightcurves reported by Miles (private communication). 2005 WC1 has a circular polarization ratio of 1.12 ± 0.05 that is one of the highest values known, suggesting a structurally-complex near-surface at centimeter to decimeter spatial scales. It is the first asteroid known with an extremely high circular polarization ratio, relatively low optical albedo, and high radar albedo.

Strategic Map for Enceladus Plume Biosignature Sample Return

Science.gov (United States)

Sherwood, B.

2014-12-01

The discovery of jets emitting salty water from the interior of Saturn's small moon Enceladus is one of the most astounding results of the Cassini mission to date. The measured presence of organic species in the resulting plume, the finding that the jet activity is valved by tidal stretching at apocrone, the modeled lifetime of E-ring particles, and gravitational inference of a long-lived, deep, large water reservoir all indicate that the textbook conditions for habitability are met at Enceladus today: liquid water, biologically available elements, source of energy, and longevity of conducive conditions. Enceladus may be the best place in our solar system to search for direct evidence of biomarkers, and the plume provides a way to sample, analyze, and even return them to Earth for detailed analysis. For example, it is straightforward to define a Stardust-like, fly-through, plume ice-particle, dust, and gas collection mission. Concept engineering and evaluation indicate that the associated technical, programmatic, regulatory, and cost issues are quite unlike the Stardust precedent however, not least because of such a mission's Category-V, Restricted Earth Return, classification. The poster presents a strategic framework for systematic integration of the enabling issues: cultivation of science advocacy, resolution of diverse stakeholder concerns, development of verifiable and affordable technical solutions, validation of cost estimation methods, alignment with other candidate astrobiology missions, complementarity of international agency goals, and finally the identification of appropriate research and flight-mission opportunities. A strategic approach is essential if we are to know the astrobiological state of Enceladus in our lifetime, and two international teams are already dedicated to implementing key steps on this roadmap.

Boulder Capture System Design Options for the Asteroid Robotic Redirect Mission Alternate Approach Trade Study

Science.gov (United States)

Belbin, Scott P.; Merrill, Raymond G.

2014-01-01

This paper presents a boulder acquisition and asteroid surface interaction electromechanical concept developed for the Asteroid Robotic Redirect Mission (ARRM) option to capture a free standing boulder on the surface of a 100 m or larger Near Earth Asteroid (NEA). It details the down select process and ranking of potential boulder capture methods, the evolution of a simple yet elegant articulating spaceframe, and ongoing risk reduction and concept refinement efforts. The capture system configuration leverages the spaceframe, heritage manipulators, and a new microspine technology to enable the ARRM boulder capture. While at the NEA it enables attenuation of terminal descent velocity, ascent to escape velocity, boulder collection and restraint. After departure from the NEA it enables, robotic inspection, sample caching, and crew Extra Vehicular Activities (EVA).

Preliminary Examination of Particles Recovered from the Surface of the Asteroid Itokawa by the Hayabusa Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Tsuchiyama, A.; Ebihara, M.; Kimura, M.; Kitajima, F.; Kotsugi, M.; Ito, S.; Nagao, K.; Nakamura, T.; Naraoka, H.; Noguchi, T.;

Shaping asteroid models using genetic evolution (SAGE)

Science.gov (United States)

Bartczak, P.; Dudziński, G.

2018-02-01

In this work, we present SAGE (shaping asteroid models using genetic evolution), an asteroid modelling algorithm based solely on photometric lightcurve data. It produces non-convex shapes, orientations of the rotation axes and rotational periods of asteroids. The main concept behind a genetic evolution algorithm is to produce random populations of shapes and spin-axis orientations by mutating a seed shape and iterating the process until it converges to a stable global minimum. We tested SAGE on five artificial shapes. We also modelled asteroids 433 Eros and 9 Metis, since ground truth observations for them exist, allowing us to validate the models. We compared the derived shape of Eros with the NEAR Shoemaker model and that of Metis with adaptive optics and stellar occultation observations since other models from various inversion methods were available for Metis.

A SEARCH FOR ASTEROIDS, MOONS, AND RINGS ORBITING WHITE DWARFS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Di Stefano, Rosanne; Howell, Steve B.; Kawaler, Steven D.

2010-01-01

Do white dwarfs host asteroid systems? Although several lines of argument suggest that white dwarfs may be orbited by large populations of asteroids, transits would provide the most direct evidence. We demonstrate that the Kepler mission has the capability to detect transits of white dwarfs by asteroids. Because white-dwarf asteroid systems, if they exist, are likely to contain many asteroids orbiting in a spatially extended distribution, discoveries of asteroid transits can be made by monitoring only a small number of white dwarfs, compatible with Kepler's primary mission, which is to monitor stars with potentially habitable planets. Possible future missions that survey 10 times as many stars with similar sensitivity and minute-cadence monitoring can establish the characteristics of asteroid systems around white dwarfs, such as the distribution of asteroid sizes and semimajor axes. Transits by planets would be more dramatic, but the probability that they will occur is lower. Ensembles of planetary moons and/or the presence of rings around planets can also produce transits detectable by Kepler. The presence of moons and rings can significantly increase the probability that Kepler will discover planets orbiting white dwarfs, even while monitoring only a small number of them.

Asteroid taxonomic classifications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tholen, D.J.

1989-01-01

This paper reports on three taxonomic classification schemes developed and applied to the body of available color and albedo data. Asteroid taxonomic classifications according to two of these schemes are reproduced

Asteroid age distributions determined by space weathering and collisional evolution models

Science.gov (United States)

Willman, Mark; Jedicke, Robert

2011-01-01

We provide evidence of consistency between the dynamical evolution of main belt asteroids and their color evolution due to space weathering. The dynamical age of an asteroid's surface (Bottke, W.F., Durda, D.D., Nesvorný, D., Jedicke, R., Morbidelli, A., Vokrouhlický, D., Levison, H. [2005]. Icarus 175 (1), 111-140; Nesvorný, D., Jedicke, R., Whiteley, R.J., Ivezić, Ž. [2005]. Icarus 173, 132-152) is the time since its last catastrophic disruption event which is a function of the object's diameter. The age of an S-complex asteroid's surface may also be determined from its color using a space weathering model (e.g. Willman, M., Jedicke, R., Moskovitz, N., Nesvorný, D., Vokrouhlický, D., Mothé-Diniz, T. [2010]. Icarus 208, 758-772; Jedicke, R., Nesvorný, D., Whiteley, R.J., Ivezić, Ž., Jurić, M. [2004]. Nature 429, 275-277; Willman, M., Jedicke, R., Nesvorny, D., Moskovitz, N., Ivezić, Ž., Fevig, R. [2008]. Icarus 195, 663-673. We used a sample of 95 S-complex asteroids from SMASS and obtained their absolute magnitudes and u, g, r, i, z filter magnitudes from SDSS. The absolute magnitudes yield a size-derived age distribution. The u, g, r, i, z filter magnitudes lead to the principal component color which yields a color-derived age distribution by inverting our color-age relationship, an enhanced version of the 'dual τ' space weathering model of Willman et al. (2010). We fit the size-age distribution to the enhanced dual τ model and found characteristic weathering and gardening times of τw = 2050 ± 80 Myr and τg=4400-500+700Myr respectively. The fit also suggests an initial principal component color of -0.05 ± 0.01 for fresh asteroid surface with a maximum possible change of the probable color due to weathering of Δ PC = 1.34 ± 0.04. Our predicted color of fresh asteroid surface matches the color of fresh ordinary chondritic surface of PC1 = 0.17 ± 0.39.

Forging Asteroid-Meteorite Relationships Through Reflectance Spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Burbine, T. H.; Binzel, R. P.; Bus, S. J.; Buchanan, P. C.; Hinrichs, J. L.; Meibom, A.; Hiroi, T.; Sunshine, J. M.

2000-01-01

Near-infrared spectra were obtained for 196 asteroids as part of SMASSIR. SMASSIR focused on observing asteroids assumed to be one of the following: (1) olivine-rich, (2) objects with "Vesta-like spectra" (the "Vestoids"), and (3) postulated meteorite parent bodies.

The Use of Returned Martian Samples to Evaluate the Possibility of Extant Life on Mars

Science.gov (United States)

iMOST Team; ten Kate, I. L.; Mackelprang, R.; Rettberg, P.; Smith, C. L.; Altieri, F.; Amelin, Y.; Ammannito, E.; Anand, M.; Beaty, D. W.; Benning, L. G.; Bishop, J. L.; Borg, L. E.; Boucher, D.; Brucato, J. R.; Busemann, H.; Campbell, K. A.; Carrier, B. L.; Czaja, A. D.; Debaille, V.; Des Marais, D. J.; Dixon, M.; Ehlmann, B. L.; Farmer, J. D.; Fernandez-Remolar, D. C.; Fogarty, J.; Glavin, D. P.; Goreva, Y. S.; Grady, M. M.; Hallis, L. J.; Harrington, A. D.; Hausrath, E. M.; Herd, C. D. K.; Horgan, B.; Humayun, M.; Kleine, T.; Kleinhenz, J.; Mangold, N.; Mayhew, L. E.; McCoy, J. T.; McCubbin, F. M.; McLennan, S. M.; McSween, H. Y.; Moser, D. E.; Moynier, F.; Mustard, J. F.; Niles, P. B.; Ori, G. G.; Raulin, F.; Rucker, M. A.; Schmitz, N.; Sefton-Nash, E.; Sephton, M. A.; Shaheen, R.; Shuster, D. L.; Siljestrom, S.; Spry, J. A.; Steele, A.; Swindle, T. D.; Tosca, N. J.; Usui, T.; Van Kranendonk, M. J.; Wadhwa, M.; Weiss, B. P.; Werner, S. C.; Westall, F.; Wheeler, R. M.; Zipfel, J.; Zorzano, M. P.

2018-04-01

The astrobiological community is highly interested in interrogating returned martian samples for evidence of extant life. A single observation with one method will not constitute evidence of extant life — it will require a suite of investigations.

The DLR AsteroidFinder for NEOs

Science.gov (United States)

Mottola, Stefano; Kuehrt, Ekkehard; Michaelis, Harald; Hoffmann, Harald; Spietz, Peter; Jansen, Frank; Thimo Grundmann, Jan; Hahn, Gerhard; Montenegro, Sergio; Findlay, Ross; Boerner, Anko; Messina, Gabriele; Behnke, Thomas; Tschentscher, Matthias; Scheibe, Karsten; Mertens, Volker; Heidecke, Ansgar

Potential Earth-impacting asteroids that spend most of their time interior to Earth's orbit are extremely difficult to be observed from the ground and remain largely undetected. Firstly, they are mostly located at small solar elongations, where the sky brightness and their faintness due to the large phase angle prevents their discovery. Secondly, these objects tend to have very long synodic orbital periods, which makes observation opportunities rare and impact warning times short. Because of these limitations, even the advent of next generation ground-based asteroid surveys is not likely to radically improve the situation (Veres et al. Icarus 203, p472, 2009). On the other hand, a small satellite with a suitable design can observe close to the Sun and detect these objects efficiently against a dark sky background. For this reason, DLR, the German Aerospace Center, has selected AsteroidFinder as the first experiment to be launched under its new compact satellite national program. The primary goal of the mission is to detect and characterize Near Earth Objects (NEOs), with a particular focus on the population of objects completely contained within Earth's orbit (IEOs or Inner Earth Objects). Current dynamical models predict the existence of more than 1000 such objects down to a size of 100m, of which, due to the abovementioned observation difficulties, only 10 have been discovered to date. Benefitting from the vantage point of a Low Earth Orbit (LEO), AsteroidFinder makes use of a small optical telescope to scan those regions of the sky that are close to the Sun, and therefore beyond the reach of ground based observatories. By estimating the population, the size and the orbital distribution of IEOs, AsteroidFinder will contribute to our knowledge of the inner Solar System, and to the assessment of the impact hazard for the Earth. A secondary goal of the mission is to demonstrate techniques that enable the space-based detection of space debris in the cm size range

The extent of aqueous alteration in C-class asteroids, and the survival of presolar isotopic signatures in chondrites

Science.gov (United States)

Trigo-Rodriguez, J. M.

2011-05-01

Several sample return missions are being planned by different space agencies for in situ sampling of undifferentiated bodies. Such missions wish to bring back to Earth pristine samples from C-class asteroids and comets to obtain clues on solar system formation conditions. A careful selection of targeted areas is required as many C-class asteroids and periodic comets have been subjected to collisional and space weathering processing since their formation. Their surfaces have been reworked by impacts as pointed out by the brecciated nature of many chondrites arrived to Earth, exhibiting different levels of thermal and aqueous alteration. It is not surprising that pristine chondrites can be considered quite rare in meteorite collections because they were naturally sampled in collisions, but several groups of carbonaceous chondrites contain a few members with promising unaltered properties. The CI and CM groups suffered extensive aqueous alteration [1], but for the most part escaped thermal metamorphism (only a few CMs evidence heating temperature over several hundred K). Both chondrite groups are water-rich, containing secondary minerals as consequence of the pervasive alteration of their primary mineral phases [2]. CO, CV, and CR chondrite groups suffered much less severe aqueous alteration, but some CRs are moderately aqueously altered. All five groups are good candidates to find unequilibrated materials between samples unaffected by aqueous alteration or metamorphism. The water was incorporated during accretion, and was released as consequence of shock after impact compaction, and/or by mild radiogenic heating. Primary minerals were transformed by water into secondary ones. Water soaking the bodies participated in chemical homogenization of the different components [1]. Hydrothermal alteration and collisional metamorphism changed the abundances of isotopically distinguishable presolar silicates [3]. Additional instruments in the landers to identify aqueous

El cuerpo asteroide de la esporotricosis. Especificad y diferenciación de otras formas de asteroides

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gerzaín Rodríguez Toro

1985-06-01

Full Text Available El análisis de 86 biopsias de esporotricosis y de biopsias de otras enfermedades granulomatosas, así como los conceptos de la literatura, permiten concluir que hay dos tipos de cuerpos asteroides: 1. lntracitoplasmáticos, situados dentro de una vacuola, en células gigantes multinucleadas de diversas enfermedades granulomatosas. Son eosinófilos y constan de radiaciones aciculares, estelares, que parten de un centro amorfo. Los ilustramos en casos de lepra lepromatosa, sarcoidosis, paracoccidioidomicosis, labomicosis y granulomas a cuerpos extraños. Son morfológicamente idénticos, inespecíficos, no ayudan a ningún diagnóstico y se originan por fagocitosis de colágeno (59 o por modificaciones del citocentro (60. 2. Cuerpos asteroides resultantes del fenómeno de Splendore-Hoeppli, que es una reacción antígeno-anticuerpo (38-40. 44 el más conspicuo de los cuales es el cuerpo asteroide esporotricósico (CAE, extracelular, situado en el centro del granuloma supurado y que consiste en una levadura central rodeada de espículas intensamente eosinófilas. Es pues específico, morfológicamente característico, permite el diagnóstico concluyente de la enfermedad y en nuestros casos lo observamos en el 20% de las biopsias. La referencia al CAE como una estructura inespecífica (47.58.61 no tiene en cuenta la morfología y la patogenia involucradas en la formación de los cuerpos asteroides. En algunas micosis como aspergilosis, candidiasis sistémica. paracoccidioidomicosis lobomicosis. granuloma tricofítico, se pueden ver imágenes asteroides alrededor de una levadura, pero la morfología general del cuadro histológico no guarda parecido alguno con la esporotricosis. Es posible ver en una biopsia cuerpos asteroides de ambos tipos y el patólogo debe ser capaz de darles el significado apropiado.

Science case for the Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM): A component of the Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA) mission

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Michel, P.; Cheng, A.; Kueppers, M.; Pravec, Petr; Blum, J.; Delbó, M.; Green, S.; Rosenblatt, P.; Tsiganis, K.; Vincent, J.B.; Biele, J.; Ciarletti, V.; Herique, A.; Ulamec, S.; Carnelli, I.; Galvez, A.; Benner, L. A. M.; Naidu, S.P.; Barnouin, O.; Richardson, D.C.; Rivkin, A. S.; Scheirich, Peter; Moskovitz, N.; Thirouin, A.; Schwartz, S.R.; Campo Bagatin, A.; Yu, Y.

2016-01-01

Roč. 57, č. 12 (2016), s. 2529-2547 ISSN 0273-1177 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA15-07193S Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : planetary defense * near- Earth asteroids * asteroid impact hazards Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 1.401, year: 2016

Asteroid Lightcurves from Xingming Observatory: 2017 - 2017 June

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Hanjie; Yeh, Tingshuo; Li, Bin; Gao, Xing

2018-01-01

The lightcurves of main-belt asteroids 963, 1025, 2019, and 17814 and near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) 459872, 2014 JO25, and 2017 BS32 were obtained using Xingming Observatory (Code C42) from 2016 March to 2017 March. The absolute magnitudes of these asteroids range from H = 11.6 to 27.3, corresponding to a diameter range of 14 m to 14 km. The derived synodic rotation periods range between 0.1 to 10 h.

Driven by Affect to Explore Asteroids, the Moon, and Science Education

Science.gov (United States)

Dingatantrige Perera, Jude Viranga

Affect is a domain of psychology that includes attitudes, emotions, interests, and values. My own affect influenced the choice of topics for my dissertation. After examining asteroid interiors and the Moon's thermal evolution, I discuss the role of affect in online science education. I begin with asteroids, which are collections of smaller objects held together by gravity and possibly cohesion. These "rubble-pile" objects may experience the Brazil Nut Effect (BNE). When a collection of particles of similar densities, but of different sizes, is shaken, smaller particles will move parallel to the local gravity vector while larger objects will do the opposite. Thus, when asteroids are shaken by impacts, they may experience the BNE as possibly evidenced by large boulders seen on their surfaces. I found while the BNE is plausible on asteroids, it is confined to only the outer layers. The Moon, which formed with a Lunar Magma Ocean (LMO), is the next topic of this work. The LMO is due to the Moon forming rapidly after a giant impact between the proto-Earth and another planetary body. The first 80% of the LMO solidified rapidly at which point a floatation crust formed and slowed solidification of the remaining LMO. Impact bombardment during this cooling process, while an important component, has not been studied in detail. Impacts considered here are from debris generated during the formation of the Moon. I developed a thermal model that incorporates impacts and find that impacts may have either expedited or delayed LMO solidification. Finally, I return to affect to consider the differences in attitudes towards science between students enrolled in fully-online degree programs and those enrolled in traditional, in-person degree programs. I analyzed pre- and post-course survey data from the online astrobiology course Habitable Worlds. Unlike their traditional program counterparts, students enrolled in online programs started the course with better attitudes towards science

The OSIRIS-REx Contamination Control and Witness Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

Dworkin, J. P.; Adelman, L.; Ajluni, T. M.; Andronikov, A. V.; Ballou, D. M.; Bartels, A. E.; Beshore, E.; Bierhaus, E. B.; Boynton, W. V.; Brucato, J. R.;

Deep Interior: Radio Reflection Tomographic Imaging of Earth-Crossing Asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Asphaug, E.; Belton, M.; Safaeinili, A.; Klaasen, K.; Ostro, S.; Yeomans, D.; Plaut, J.

2004-12-01

Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) present an important scientific question and an intriguing space hazard. They are scrutinized by a number of large, dedicated groundbased telescopes, and their diverse compositions are represented by thousands of well-studied meteorites. A successful program of NEO spacecraft exploration has begun, and we are proposing Deep Interior as the next logical step. Our mission objective is to image the deep interior structure of two NEOs using radio reflection tomography (RRT), in order to explore the record of asteroid origin and impact evolution, and to test the fundamental hypothesis that these important members of the solar system are rubble piles rather than consolidated bodies. Asteroid Interiors. Our mission's RRT technique is like a CAT scan from orbit. Closely sampled radar echoes yield volumetric maps of mechanical and compositional boundaries, and measure interior material dielectric properties. Exteriors. We use color imaging to explore the surface expressions of unit boundaries, in order to relate interior radar imaging to what is observable from spacecraft imaging and from Earth. Gravity and high fidelity geodesy are used to explore how interior structure is expressed in shape, density, mass distribution and spin. Diversity. We first visit a common, primitive, S-type asteroid. We next visit an asteroid that was perhaps blasted from the surface of a differentiated asteroid. We attain an up-close and inside look at two taxonomic archetypes spanning an important range of NEO mass and spin rate. Scientific focus is achieved by keeping our payload simple: Radar. A 30-m (tip-to-tip) cross-dipole antenna system operates at 5 and 15-MHz, with electronics heritage from JPL's MARSIS contribution to Mars Express, and antenna heritage from IMAGE and LACE. The 5-MHz channel is designed to penetrate >1 km of basaltic rock, and 15-MHz penetrates a few 100 m or more. They bracket the diversity of solar system materials that we are likely to

Asteroid spin-rate studies using large sky-field surveys

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Chan-Kao; Lin, Hsing-Wen; Ip, Wing-Huen; Prince, Thomas A.; Kulkarni, Shrinivas R.; Levitan, David; Laher, Russ; Surace, Jason

2017-12-01

Eight campaigns to survey asteroid rotation periods have been carried out using the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory in the past 3 years. 2780 reliable rotation periods were obtained, from which we identified two new super-fast rotators (SFRs), (335433) 2005 UW163 and (40511) 1999 RE88, and 23 candidate SFRs. Along with other three known super-fast rotators, there are five known SFRs so far. Contrary to the case of rubble-pile asteroids (i.e., bounded aggregations by gravity only), an internal cohesion, ranging from 100 to 1000 Pa, is required to prevent these five SFRs from flying apart because of their super-fast rotations. This cohesion range is comparable with that of lunar regolith. However, some candidates of several kilometers in size require unusually high cohesion (i.e., a few thousands of Pa). Therefore, the confirmation of these kilometer-sized candidates can provide important information about asteroid interior structure. From the rotation periods we collected, we also found that the spin-rate limit of C-type asteroids, which has a lower bulk density, is lower than for S-type asteroids. This result is in agreement with the general picture of rubble-pile asteroids (i.e., lower bulk density, lower spin-rate limit). Moreover, the spin-rate distributions of asteroids of 3 5 rev/day, regardless of the location in the main belt. The YORP effect is indicated to be less efficient in altering asteroid spin rates from our results when compared with the flat distribution found by Pravec et al. (Icarus 197:497-504, 2008. doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2008.05.012). We also found a significant number drop at f = 5 rev/day in the spin-rate distributions of asteroids of D < 3 km.

SAFARI: Searching Asteroids For Activity Revealing Indicators

Science.gov (United States)

Curtis, Anthony; Chandler, Colin Orion; Mommert, Michael; Sheppard, Scott; Trujillo, Chadwick A.

2018-06-01

We present results on one of the deepest and widest systematic searches for active asteroids, objects in the main-belt which behave dynamically like asteroids but display comet-like comae. This activity comes from a variety of sources, such as the sublimation of ices or rotational breakup, the former of which offers an opportunity to study a family of protoplanetary ices different than those seen in comets and Kuiper Belt objects. Indications of activity may be detected through visual or spectroscopic evidence of gas or dust emissions. However, these objects are still poorly understood, with only about 25 identified to date. We looked for activity indicators with a pipeline that examined ~35,000 deep images taken with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) mounted on the 4-meter Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Our pipeline was configured to perform astrometry on DECam images and produce thumbnail images of known asteroids in the field to be examined by eye for signs of activity. We detected three previously identified active asteroids, one of which has shown repeated signs of activity in these data. Our proof of concept demonstrates 1) our novel informatics approach can locate active asteroids 2) DECam data are well suited to search for active asteroids. We will discuss the design structure of our pipeline, adjustments that had to be made for the specific dataset to improve performance, and the the significance of detecting activity in the main-belt. The authors acknowledge funding for this project through NSF grant number AST-1461200.

Earth's Trojan asteroid.

Science.gov (United States)

Connors, Martin; Wiegert, Paul; Veillet, Christian

2011-07-27

It was realized in 1772 that small bodies can stably share the same orbit as a planet if they remain near 'triangular points' 60° ahead of or behind it in the orbit. Such 'Trojan asteroids' have been found co-orbiting with Jupiter, Mars and Neptune. They have not hitherto been found associated with Earth, where the viewing geometry poses difficulties for their detection, although other kinds of co-orbital asteroid (horseshoe orbiters and quasi-satellites) have been observed. Here we report an archival search of infrared data for possible Earth Trojans, producing the candidate 2010 TK(7). We subsequently made optical observations which established that 2010 TK(7) is a Trojan companion of Earth, librating around the leading Lagrange triangular point, L(4). Its orbit is stable over at least ten thousand years.

Physical characterization of asteroid surfaces from photometric analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Helfenstein, P.; Veverka, J.

1989-01-01

Rigorous photometric models, like Hapke's equation, can be applied to the analysis of disk-integrated phase curves in order to estimate a variety of regolith physical properties (average particle single-scattering albedo, particle transparency, soil compaction and large-scale roughness). Unfortunately, unambiguous interpretation is difficult due to uncertainties introduced by the irregular shapes of many asteroids and because Earth-based observations are often restricted to small phase angles (<30 degrees). In this chapter, the authors explore in detail how incomplete phase-angle coverage and nonsphericity of asteroids limits the reliable determination of Hapke's photometric parameters from asteroid phase curves. From obtainable Earth-based observations, it is possible to derive useful relative comparisons of single-scattering albedos, opposition-surge amplitudes, and regolith compaction states for different asteroids

Photometric geodesy of main-belt asteroids. III. Additional lightcurves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weidenschilling, S.J.; Chapman, C.R.; Davis, D.R.; Greenberg, R.; Levy, D.H.

1990-01-01

A total of 107 complete or partial lightcurves are presented for 59 different asteroids over the 1982-1989 period. Unusual lightcurves with unequal minima and maxima at large amplitudes are preferentially seen for M-type asteroids. Some asteroids, such as 16 Psyche and 201 Penelope, exhibit lightcurves combining large amplitude with very unequal brightness for both maxima and both minima, even at small phase angles. An M-type asteroid is believed to consist of a metal core of a differentiated parent body that has had its rocky mantle completely removed by one or more large impacts. 39 refs

Mars Sample Return: The Critical Need for Planning a Meaningful and Participatory Public Engagement Program

Science.gov (United States)

Klug Boonstra, S.

2018-04-01

The Mars Sample Return campaign offers the prospect of an historical leap forward in the understanding of the science of Mars, and an unprecedented opportunity to engage our citizenry in one of the enduring questions of humanity, "Are we alone?".

Automated Classification of Asteroids into Families at Work

Science.gov (United States)

Knežević, Zoran; Milani, Andrea; Cellino, Alberto; Novaković, Bojan; Spoto, Federica; Paolicchi, Paolo

2014-07-01

We have recently proposed a new approach to the asteroid family classification by combining the classical HCM method with an automated procedure to add newly discovered members to existing families. This approach is specifically intended to cope with ever increasing asteroid data sets, and consists of several steps to segment the problem and handle the very large amount of data in an efficient and accurate manner. We briefly present all these steps and show the results from three subsequent updates making use of only the automated step of attributing the newly numbered asteroids to the known families. We describe the changes of the individual families membership, as well as the evolution of the classification due to the newly added intersections between the families, resolved candidate family mergers, and emergence of the new candidates for the mergers. We thus demonstrate how by the new approach the asteroid family classification becomes stable in general terms (converging towards a permanent list of confirmed families), and in the same time evolving in details (to account for the newly discovered asteroids) at each update.

PRODUCTION OF NEAR-EARTH ASTEROIDS ON RETROGRADE ORBITS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Greenstreet, S.; Gladman, B.; Ngo, H.; Granvik, M.; Larson, S.

2012-01-01

While computing an improved near-Earth object (NEO) steady-state orbital distribution model, we discovered in the numerical integrations the unexpected production of retrograde orbits for asteroids that had originally exited from the accepted main-belt source regions. Our model indicates that ∼0.1% (a factor of two uncertainty) of the steady-state NEO population (perihelion q < 1.3 AU) is on retrograde orbits. These rare outcomes typically happen when asteroid orbits flip to a retrograde configuration while in the 3:1 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter and then live for ∼0.001 to 100 Myr. The model predicts, given the estimated near-Earth asteroid (NEA) population, that a few retrograde 0.1-1 km NEAs should exist. Currently, there are two known MPC NEOs with asteroidal designations on retrograde orbits which we therefore claim could be escaped asteroids instead of devolatilized comets. This retrograde NEA population may also answer a long-standing question in the meteoritical literature regarding the origin of high-strength, high-velocity meteoroids on retrograde orbits.

Trojan Asteroid Lightcurves: Probing Internal Structure and the Origins

Science.gov (United States)

Ryan, E. L.

2017-12-01

Studies of the small bodies of the solar system reveal important clues about the condensation and formation of planetesimal bodies, and ultimately planets in planetary systems. Dynamics of small bodies have been utilized to model giant planet migration within our solar system, colors have been used to explore compositional gradients within the protoplanetary disk, & studies of the size-frequency distribution of main belt asteroids may reveal compositional dependences on planetesimal strength limiting models of planetary growth from collisional aggregration. Studies of the optical lightcurves of asteroids also yield important information on shape and potential binarity of asteroidal bodies. The K2 mission has allowed for the unprecedented collection of Trojan asteroid lightcurves on a 30 minute cadence for baselines of 10 days, in both the L4 and L5 Trojan clouds. Preliminary results from the K2 mission suggest that Trojan asteroids have bulk densities of 1 g/cc and a binary fraction ≤ 33 percent (Ryan et al., 2017, Astronomical Journal, 153, 116), however Trojan lightcurve data is actively being collected via the continued K2 mission. We will present updated results of bulk density and binary fraction of the Trojan asteroids and compare these results to other small body populations, including Hilda asteroids, transNeptunian objects and comet nuclei to test dynamical models of the origins of these populations.

3-µm Spectroscopy of Asteroid 16 Psyche

Science.gov (United States)

Takir, Driss; Reddy, Vishnu; Sanchez, Juan; Shepard, Michael K.

2016-10-01

Asteroid 16 Psyche, an M-type asteroid, is thought to be one of the most massive exposed iron metal object in the asteroid belt. The high radar albedos of Psyche suggest that this differentiated asteroid is dominantly composed of metal. Psyche was previously found to be featureless in the 3-µm spectral region. However, in our study we found that this asteroid exhibits a 3-µm absorption feature, possibly indicating the presence of hydrated silicates.We have observed Psyche in the 3-µm spectral region, using the long-wavelength cross-dispersed (LXD:1.9-4.2 µm) mode of the SpeX spectrograph/imager at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). For data reduction, we used the IDL (Interactive Data Language)-based spectral reduction tool Spextool (v4.1). Psyche was observed over the course of three nights with an apparent visual magnitude of ~9.50: 8 December 2015 (3 sets), 9 December 2015 (1 set), and 10 March 2016 (1 set). These observations have revealed that Psyche may exhibit a 3-µm absorption feature, similar to the sharp group in the 2.9-3.3-µm spectral range. Psyche also exhibits an absorption feature similar to the one in Ceres and Ceres-like group in the spectral 3.3-4.0-µm range. These 3-µm observational results revealed that Psyche may not be as featureless as once thought in the 3-µm spectral region.Evidence for the 3-µm band was found on the surfaces of many M-type asteroids and a number of plausible alternative interpretations for the presence of this 3-µm band were previously suggested. These interpretations include the presence of anhydrous silicates containing structural OH, the presence of fluid inclusions, the presence of xenolithic hydrous meteorite components on asteroid surfaces from impacts, solar wind-implanted H, or the presence of troilite. The detection of the Ceres-like feature in the 3.3-4.0-µm spectral range, however, would rule out some of these alternative interpretations, especially the solar wind-implanted H.

Spectral investigation of two asteroidal fireballs

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Borovička, Jiří

2006-01-01

Roč. 97, 3-4 (2006), s. 279-293 ISSN 0167-9295. [Asteroids, Comets, Meteors 2005. Búzios, 07.08.2005-12.08.2005] R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/05/0543; GA ČR GA205/03/1404 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : asteroids * meteors * spectroscopy Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 0.252, year: 2006

A Breccia of Ureilitic and C2 Carbonaceous Chondrite Materials from Almahata Sitta: Implications for the Regolith of Urelitic Asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Goodrich, C. A.; Fioretti, A. M.; Zolensky, M.; Fries, M.; Shaddad, M.; Kohl, I.; Young, E.; Jenniskens, P.

2017-01-01

The Almahata Sitta (AhS) polymict ureilite is the first meteorite to originate from a spectrally classified asteroid (2008 TC3) [1-3], and provides an unprecedented opportunity to correlate properties of meteorites with those of their parent asteroid. AhS is also unique because its fragments comprise a wide variety of meteorite types. Of approximately140 stones studied to-date, 70% are ureilites (carbon-rich ultramafic achondrites) and 30% are various types of chondrites [4,5]. None of these show contacts between ureilitic and chondritic lithologies. It has been inferred that 2008 TC3 was loosely aggregated, so that it disintegrated in the atmosphere and only its most coherent clasts fell as individual stones [1,3,5]. Understanding the structure and composition of this asteroid is critical for missions to sample asteroid surfaces. We are studying [6] the University of Khartoum collection of AhS [3] to test hypotheses for the nature of 2008 TC3. We describe a sample that consists of both ureilitic and chondritic materials.

On the concept of material strength and first simulations of asteroid disruption with explicit formation of spinning aggregates in the gravity regime

Science.gov (United States)

Michel, P.; Richardson, D. C.

2007-08-01

During their evolutions, the small bodies of our Solar System are affected by several mechanisms which can modify their properties. While dynamical mechanisms are at the origin of their orbital variations, there are other mechanisms which can change their shape, spin, and even their size when their strength threshold is reached, resulting in their disruption. Such mechanisms have been identified and studied, both by analytical and numerical tools. The main mechanisms that can result in the disruption of a small body are collisional events, tidal perturbations, and spin-ups. However, the efficiency of these mechanisms depends on the strength of the material constituing the small body, which also plays a role in its possible equilibrium shape. We will present several important aspects of material strength that are believed to be adapted to Solar System small bodies and briefly review the most recent studies of the different mechanisms that can be at the origin of the disruption of these bodies. In particular, we have recently made a major improvement in the simulations of asteroid disruption by computing explicitly the formation of aggregates during the gravitational reaccumulation of small fragments, allowing us to obtain information on their spin, the number of boulders composing them or lying on their surface, and their shape.We will present the first and preliminary results of this process taking as examples some asteroid families that we reproduced successfully with our previous simulations (Michel et al. 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004a,b), and their possible implications on the properties of asteroids generated by a disruption. Such information can for instance be compared with data provided by the Japanese space mission Hayabusa of the asteroid Itokawa, a body now understood to be a fragment of a larger parent body. It is also clear that future space missions to small bodies devoted to precise in-situ analysis and sample return will allow us to improve our

Binary asteroid population. 1. Angular momentum content

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Pravec, Petr; Harris, A. W.

2007-01-01

Roč. 190, č. 1 (2007), s. 250-259 ISSN 0019-1035 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA205/05/0604 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : asteroids * satellites of asteroids Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 2.869, year: 2007

LIFE: Life Investigation For Enceladus A Sample Return Mission Concept in Search for Evidence of Life.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsou, Peter; Brownlee, Donald E; McKay, Christopher P; Anbar, Ariel D; Yano, Hajime; Altwegg, Kathrin; Beegle, Luther W; Dissly, Richard; Strange, Nathan J; Kanik, Isik

2012-08-01

Life Investigation For Enceladus (LIFE) presents a low-cost sample return mission to Enceladus, a body with high astrobiological potential. There is ample evidence that liquid water exists under ice coverage in the form of active geysers in the "tiger stripes" area of the southern Enceladus hemisphere. This active plume consists of gas and ice particles and enables the sampling of fresh materials from the interior that may originate from a liquid water source. The particles consist mostly of water ice and are 1-10 μ in diameter. The plume composition shows H(2)O, CO(2), CH(4), NH(3), Ar, and evidence that more complex organic species might be present. Since life on Earth exists whenever liquid water, organics, and energy coexist, understanding the chemical components of the emanating ice particles could indicate whether life is potentially present on Enceladus. The icy worlds of the outer planets are testing grounds for some of the theories for the origin of life on Earth. The LIFE mission concept is envisioned in two parts: first, to orbit Saturn (in order to achieve lower sampling speeds, approaching 2 km/s, and thus enable a softer sample collection impact than Stardust, and to make possible multiple flybys of Enceladus); second, to sample Enceladus' plume, the E ring of Saturn, and the Titan upper atmosphere. With new findings from these samples, NASA could provide detailed chemical and isotopic and, potentially, biological compositional context of the plume. Since the duration of the Enceladus plume is unpredictable, it is imperative that these samples are captured at the earliest flight opportunity. If LIFE is launched before 2019, it could take advantage of a Jupiter gravity assist, which would thus reduce mission lifetimes and launch vehicle costs. The LIFE concept offers science returns comparable to those of a Flagship mission but at the measurably lower sample return costs of a Discovery-class mission.

Update on an Interstellar Asteroid

Science.gov (United States)

Kohler, Susanna

2018-01-01

Whats the news coming from the research world on the interstellar asteroid visitor, asteroid 1I/Oumuamua? Read on for an update from a few of the latest studies.What is Oumuamua?In lateOctober2017, the discovery of minor planet 1I/Oumuamua was announced. This body which researchers first labeled asa comet and later revised to an asteroid had just zipped around the Sun and was already in the process of speeding away whenwe trained our telescopes on it. Its trajectory, however, marked it as being a visitor from outside our solar system: the first knownvisitorof its kind.Since Oumuamuasdiscovery, scientists have been gathering as many observations of this bodyas possible before it vanishes into the distance. Simultaneously, theorists have leapt at the opportunity to explain its presence and the implications its passage has on our understanding of our surroundings. Here we present just a few of the latest studies that have been published on this first detected interstellar asteroid including several timelystudies published in our new journal, Research Notes of the AAS.The galactic velocity of Oumuamua does not coincide with any of the nearest stars to us. [Mamajek 2018]Where Did Oumuamua Come From?Are we sure Oumuamua didnt originate in our solar system andget scattered into a weird orbit? Jason Wright (The Pennsylvania State University) demonstrates via a series of calculations that no known solar system body could have scattered Oumuamua onto its current orbit nor could any stillunknown object bound to our solar system.Eric Mamajek (Caltech and University of Rochester) showsthat thekinematics of Oumuamua areconsistent with what we might expect of interstellar field objects, though he argues that its kinematics suggest its unlikely to have originated from many of the neareststellar systems.What AreOumuamuas Properties?Oumuamuas light curve. [Bannister et al. 2017]A team of University of Maryland scientists led by Matthew Knight captured a light curve of Oumuamua using

Antimatter applied for Earth protection from asteroid collision

Science.gov (United States)

Satori, Shin; Kuninaka, Hitoshi; Kuriki, Kyoichi

1990-01-01

An Earth protection system against asteroids and meteorites in colliding orbit is proposed. The system consists of detection and deorbiting systems. Analyses are given for the resolution of microwave optics, the detectability of radar, the orbital plan of intercepting operation, and the antimatter mass require for totally or partially blasting the asteroid. Antimatter of 1 kg is required for deorbiting an asteroid 200 m in diameter. An experimental simulation of antimatter cooling and storage is planned. The facility under construction is discussed.

SMALL MAIN-BELT ASTEROID SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY, PHASE II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data set contains visible-wavelength (0.435-0.925 micron) spectra for 1341 main-belt asteroids observed during the second phase of the Small Main-belt Asteroid...

Asteroid collisional history - Effects on sizes and spins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davis, D.R.; Weidenschilling, S.J.; Farinella, P.; Paolicchi, P.; Binzel, R.P.

1989-01-01

The effects of asteroid collisional history on sizes and spins of present-day objects are discussed. Collisional evolution studies indicate that collisions have altered the spin-rates of small bodies, but that the largest asteroids may have retained their primordial rotation rates. Most asteroids larger than 100 km diam have probably been shattered, but have gravitationally recaptured their fragments to form a rubble-pile structure. Large angular momentum asteroids appear to have Maclaurian spheroidal or Jacobi-ellipsoid-like shapes; some of them may have fissioned into binaries. An integrated size and spin collisional evolution model is presented, with two critical parameters: one which determines the spin rates for small fragments resulting from a shattering collision, and the other determines the fraction of impact angular momentum that is retained by the target. 36 refs

Prediction and Confirmation of V-type Asteroids Beyond 2.5 AU Based on SDSS Colors

Science.gov (United States)

Binzel, Richard P.; Masi, G.; Foglia, S.

2006-09-01

We apply a taxonomic classification system developed by Masi et al. (2006, submitted to Icarus) to identify C-, S-, and V-type asteroids present within the 3rd Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Moving Object Catalog (SDSS MOC3). The classifications deduced by Masi et al. for 43,000 asteroids using SDSS colors are based on the taxonomy of Bus (1999; MIT Ph.D. thesis). To link SDSS colors to the Bus taxonomy, Masi et al. (2006) use 149 objects measured in common by both SDSS and the Small Main-Belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey (SMASS) (Bus and Binzel 2002, Icarus 158, 106). We report results of direct testing of SDSS V-type classification predictions for six objects, where the tests were performed by visible wavelength spectroscopy (Lazzaro et al. 2004, Icarus 172, 179) and target of opportunity near-infrared spectroscopy obtained using the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). Vesta-like spectra and a V-type taxonomy are confirmed for five of the six predicted V-type objects sampled. Most interestingly, the SDSS taxonomy correctly predicted the V-type spectral characteristics for asteroid (21238) 1995 WV7, a 6 km asteroid located far from Vesta across the 3:1 mean motion resonance at 2.54 AU. (Proper elements a,e,i: 2.54 AU, 0.14, and 10.8 deg.) Given the 2 km/sec ejection velocity required from Vesta to reach the current orbit, and the difficulty of migrating across the 3:1 resonance (at 2.5 AU) by a process such as Yarkovsky drift or via secular resonances (Carruba et al. 2005, Astron. Astrophys. 441, 819), asteroid 21238 may be a new candidate for a basaltic asteroid having no relationship to Vesta.

The REgolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) for OSIRIS-REx: Identifying Regional Elemental Enrichment on Asteroids

OpenAIRE

Allen, Branden; Grindlay, Jonathan; Hong, Jaesub; Binzel, Richard P.; Masterson, Rebecca; Inamdar, Niraj K.; Chodas, Mark; Smith, Matthew W.; Bautz, Marshall W.; Kissel, Steven E.; Villasenor, Joel; Oprescu, Miruna; Induni, Nicholas

2013-01-01

The OSIRIS-REx Mission was selected under the NASA New Frontiers program and is scheduled for launch in September of 2016 for a rendezvous with, and collection of a sample from the surface of asteroid Bennu in 2019. 101955 Bennu (previously 1999 RQ36) is an Apollo (near-Earth) asteroid originally discovered by the LINEAR project in 1999 which has since been classified as a potentially hazardous near-Earth object. The REgolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) was proposed jointly by MIT an...

Advanced Curation Protocols for Mars Returned Sample Handling

Science.gov (United States)

Bell, M.; Mickelson, E.; Lindstrom, D.; Allton, J.

Introduction: Johnson Space Center has over 30 years experience handling precious samples which include Lunar rocks and Antarctic meteorites. However, we recognize that future curation of samples from such missions as Genesis, Stardust, and Mars S mple Return, will require a high degree of biosafety combined witha extremely low levels of inorganic, organic, and biological contamination. To satisfy these requirements, research in the JSC Advanced Curation Lab is currently focused toward two major areas: preliminary examination techniques and cleaning and verification techniques . Preliminary Examination Techniques : In order to minimize the number of paths for contamination we are exploring the synergy between human &robotic sample handling in a controlled environment to help determine the limits of clean curation. Within the Advanced Curation Laboratory is a prototype, next-generation glovebox, which contains a robotic micromanipulator. The remotely operated manipulator has six degrees-of- freedom and can be programmed to perform repetitive sample handling tasks. Protocols are being tested and developed to perform curation tasks such as rock splitting, weighing, imaging, and storing. Techniques for sample transfer enabling more detailed remote examination without compromising the integrity of sample science are also being developed . The glovebox is equipped with a rapid transfer port through which samples can be passed without exposure. The transfer is accomplished by using a unique seal and engagement system which allows passage between containers while maintaining a first seal to the outside environment and a second seal to prevent the outside of the container cover and port door from becoming contaminated by the material being transferred. Cleaning and Verification Techniques: As part of the contamination control effort, innovative cleaning techniques are being identified and evaluated in conjunction with sensitive cleanliness verification methods. Towards this

Generalized Calibration of the Polarimetric Albedo Scale of Asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Lupishko, D. F.

2018-03-01

Six different calibrations of the polarimetric albedo scale of asteroids have been published so far. Each of them contains its particular random and systematic errors and yields its values of geometric albedo. On the one hand, this complicates their analysis and comparison; on the other hand, it becomes more and more difficult to decide which of the proposed calibrations should be used. Moreover, in recent years, new databases on the albedo of asteroids obtained from the radiometric surveys of the sky with the orbital space facilities (the InfraRed Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), the Japanese astronomical satellite AKARI (which means "light"), the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), and the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Survey Explorer (NEOWISE)) have appeared; and the database on the diameters and albedos of asteroids obtained from their occultations of stars has substantially increased. Here, we critically review the currently available calibrations and propose a new generalized calibration derived from the interrelations between the slope h and the albedo and between P min and the albedo. This calibration is based on all of the available series of the asteroid albedos and the most complete data on the polarization parameters of asteroids. The generalized calibration yields the values of the polarimetric albedo of asteroids in the system unified with the radiometric albedos and the albedos obtained from occultations of stars by asteroids. This, in turn, removes the difficulties in their comparison, joint analysis, etc.

Tracing meteorite source regions through asteroid spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Cristina Ana

By virtue of their landing on Earth, meteorites reside in near-Earth object (NEO) orbits prior to their arrival. Thus the population of observable NEOs, in principle, gives the best representation of meteorite source bodies. By linking meteorites to NEOs, and linking NEOs to their most likely main-belt source locations, we seek to gain insight into the original solar system formation locations for different meteorite classes. To forge the first link between meteorites and NEOs, we have developed a three dimensional method for quantitative comparisons between laboratory measurements of meteorites and telescopic measurements of near-Earth objects. We utilize meteorite spectra from the Reflectance Experiment Laboratory (RELAB) database and NEO data from the SpeX instrument on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). Using the Modified Gaussian Model (MGM) as a mathematical tool, we treat asteroid and meteorite spectra identically in the calculation of 1-micron and 2-micron geometric band centers and their band area ratios (BARs). Using these identical numerical parameters we quantitatively compare the spectral properties of S-, Sq-, Q- and V-type NEOs with the spectral properties of the meteorites in the H, L, LL and HED meteorite classes. For each NEO spectrum, we assign a set of probabilities for it being related to each of these meteorite classes. Our NEO- meteorite correlation probabilities are then convolved with NEO-source region probabilities to yield a final set of meteorite-source region correlations. An apparent (significant at the 2.1-sigma level) source region signature is found for the H chondrites to be preferentially delivered to the inner solar system through the 3:1 mean motion resonance. A 3:1 resonance H chondrite source region is consistent with the short cosmic ray exposure ages known for H chondrites. The spectroscopy of asteroids is subject to several sources of inherent error. The source region model used a variety of S-type spectra without

LISA and asteroids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vinet, Jean-Yves

2006-01-01

LISA is a joint ESA-NASA mission aiming for cosmic gravitational wave detection and analysis. We address here the question of a special kind of signal caused by asteroid encounters. We present a short theory of the detection of such signals

LONG-TERM STABLE EQUILIBRIA FOR SYNCHRONOUS BINARY ASTEROIDS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jacobson, Seth A.; Scheeres, Daniel J.

2011-01-01

Synchronous binary asteroids may exist in a long-term stable equilibrium, where the opposing torques from mutual body tides and the binary YORP (BYORP) effect cancel. Interior of this equilibrium, mutual body tides are stronger than the BYORP effect and the mutual orbit semimajor axis expands to the equilibrium; outside of the equilibrium, the BYORP effect dominates the evolution and the system semimajor axis will contract to the equilibrium. If the observed population of small (0.1-10 km diameter) synchronous binaries are in static configurations that are no longer evolving, then this would be confirmed by a null result in the observational tests for the BYORP effect. The confirmed existence of this equilibrium combined with a shape model of the secondary of the system enables the direct study of asteroid geophysics through the tidal theory. The observed synchronous asteroid population cannot exist in this equilibrium if described by the canonical 'monolithic' geophysical model. The 'rubble pile' geophysical model proposed by Goldreich and Sari is sufficient, however it predicts a tidal Love number directly proportional to the radius of the asteroid, while the best fit to the data predicts a tidal Love number inversely proportional to the radius. This deviation from the canonical and Goldreich and Sari models motivates future study of asteroid geophysics. Ongoing BYORP detection campaigns will determine whether these systems are in an equilibrium, and future determination of secondary shapes will allow direct determination of asteroid geophysical parameters.

In Situ Pre-Selection of Return Samples with Bio-Signatures by Combined Laser Mass Spectrometry and Optical Microscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Wiesendanger, R.; Wurz, P.; Tulej, M.; Wacey, D.; Neubeck, A.; Grimaudo, V.; Riedo, A.; Moreno, P.; Cedeño-López, A.; Ivarsson, M.

2018-04-01

The University of Bern developed instrument prototypes that allow analysis of samples on Mars prior to bringing them back to Earth, allowing to maximize the scientific outcome of the returned samples. We will present the systems and first results.

Geophysical Evolution of Ch Asteroids and Testable Hypotheses for Future Missions

Science.gov (United States)

Castillo, J. C.

2017-12-01

The main population of asteroids related to meteorites in the collections remains to be explored in situ. Ch asteroids are the only midsized asteroids that display a signature of hydration (besides Pallas) and the spectral connection between Ch asteroids and CM chondrites suggests that the former represent potential parent bodies for the latter. This class of asteroids is particularly interesting because it hosts many objects 100-200 km in size, which are believed to belong to a primordial population of planetesimals. This presentation will explore multiple evolution pathways for Ch-asteroids leading to possible hypotheses on the geological, petrological, and geophysical properties that a disrupted parent body would present to a future mission. This work is being carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract to NASA.

The size distribution of the earth-approaching asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Rabinowitz, D. L.

1993-01-01

The discovery circumstances of the first asteroids ever observed outside the earth's atmosphere but within the neighborhood of the earth-moon system are described. Four natural objects with diameters in the range 5-50 m were detected during a search for earth-approaching asteroids conducted each month at the 0.91-m Spacewatch Telescope at Kitt Peak. An additional 19 earth approachers with sizes in the range 50 m to 5 km were discovered. These obervations determine the cumulative flux of asteroids near earth as a function of absolute magnitude. For asteroids larger than about 100 m, a power-law dependence with exponent of about 0.9 is observed, consistent with their evolution from the main-belt population. At about 10 m, the flux is more than two orders of magnitude greater than this power-law extrapolation.

Asteroid-Generated Tsunami and Impact Risk

Science.gov (United States)

Boslough, M.; Aftosmis, M.; Berger, M. J.; Ezzedine, S. M.; Gisler, G.; Jennings, B.; LeVeque, R. J.; Mathias, D.; McCoy, C.; Robertson, D.; Titov, V. V.; Wheeler, L.

2016-12-01

The justification for planetary defense comes from a cost/benefit analysis, which includes risk assessment. The contribution from ocean impacts and airbursts is difficult to quantify and represents a significant uncertainty in our assessment of the overall risk. Our group is currently working toward improved understanding of impact scenarios that can generate dangerous tsunami. The importance of asteroid-generated tsunami research has increased because a new Science Definition Team, at the behest of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordinating Office, is now updating the results of a 2003 study on which our current planetary defense policy is based Our group was formed to address this question on many fronts, including asteroid entry modeling, tsunami generation and propagation simulations, modeling of coastal run-ups, inundation, and consequences, infrastructure damage estimates, and physics-based probabilistic impact risk assessment. We also organized the Second International Workshop on Asteroid Threat Assessment, focused on asteroid-generated tsunami and associated risk (Aug. 23-24, 2016). We will summarize our progress and present the highlights of our workshop, emphasizing its relevance to earth and planetary science. Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

The Mars Sample Return Lab(s) - Lessons from the Past and Implications for the Future

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Carlton

2012-01-01

It has been widely understood for many years that an essential component of a Mars Sample Return mission is a Sample Receiving Facility (SRF). The purpose of such a facility would be to take delivery of the flight hardware that lands on Earth, open the spacecraft and extract the sample container and samples, and conduct an agreed upon test protocol, while ensuring strict containment and contamination control of the samples while in the SRF. Any samples that are found to be non-hazardous (or are rendered non-hazardous by sterilization) would then be transferred to long-term curation. Although the general concept of an SRF is relatively straightforward, there has been considerable discussion about implementation planning.

Speckle interferometry of asteroids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Drummond, J.

1988-01-01

By studying the image two-dimensional power spectra or autocorrelations projected by an asteroid as it rotates, it is possible to locate its rotational pole and derive its three axes dimensions through speckle interferometry under certain assumptions of uniform, geometric scattering, and triaxial ellipsoid shape. However, in cases where images can be reconstructed, the need for making the assumptions is obviated. Furthermore, the ultimate goal for speckle interferometry of image reconstruction will lead to mapping albedo features (if they exist) as impact areas or geological units. The first glimpses of the surface of an asteroid were obtained from images of 4 Vesta reconstructed from speckle interferometric observations. These images reveal that Vesta is quite Moon-like in having large hemispheric-scale albedo features. All of its lightcurves can be produced from a simple model developed from the images. Although undoubtedly more intricate than the model, Vesta's lightcurves can be matched by a model with three dark and four bright spots. The dark areas so dominate one hemisphere that a lightcurve minimum occurs when the maximum cross-section area is visible. The triaxial ellipsoid shape derived for Vesta is not consistent with the notion that the asteroid has an equilibrium shape in spite of its having apparently been differentiated

Discovery of a Satellite around a Near-Earth Asteroid

Science.gov (United States)

1997-07-01

In the course of the major observational programme of asteroids by the Institute of Planetary Exploration of the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR) [1] in Berlin, two of the staff astronomers, Stefano Mottola and Gerhard Hahn , have discovered a small satellite (moon) orbiting the asteroid (3671) Dionysus. The new measurements were obtained with the DLR CCD Camera attached at the 60-cm Bochum telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile. This is only the second known case of an asteroid with a moon. Moons and planets Until recently, natural satellites were only known around the major planets . The Moon orbits the Earth, there are two tiny moons around Mars, each of the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune has many more, and even the smallest and outermost, Pluto, is accompanied by one [2]. However, the new discovery now strengthens the belief of many astronomers that some, perhaps even a substantial number of the many thousands of minor planets (asteroids) in the solar system may also possess their own moons. The first discovery of a satellite orbiting an asteroid was made by the NASA Galileo spacecraft, whose imagery, obtained during a fly-by of asteroid (253) Ida in August 1993, unveiled a small moon that has since been given the name Dactyl. (3671) Dionysus: an Earth-crossing asteroid In the framework of the DLR asteroid monitoring programme, image sequences are acquired to measure an asteroid's brightness variations caused by the changing amount of sunlight reflected from the asteroid's illuminated surface as it spins, due to its irregular shape. The brightness variations may be used to derive the asteroid's rotational properties, such as speed of rotation and spin axis orientation. Asteroid Dionysus [3] was put on the observing list because it belongs to a special class of asteroids, the members of which occasionally come very close to the Earth and have a small, but non-negligible chance of colliding with our planet. Most of

The nature of C-class asteroids from 3-micron spectrophotometry

Science.gov (United States)

Feierberg, M. A.; Lebofsky, L. A.; Tholen, D. J.

1985-01-01

Narrowband spectrophotometry between 2.3 and 3.5 micrometers is presented for 14 main-belt C asteroids greater than 100 km in diameter. Absorption features at 3 micrometers due to water of hydration are present in the spectra of nine of the asteroids, with intensities ranging from 6 to 23 percent. The other five asteroids have no such absorption greater than 2 percent in intensity. The present C-asteroid population may be fragments of larger parent bodies with anhydrous C3-like cores and hydrated C1I- or C2M-like mantles.

Polarimetric survey of main-belt asteroids. IV. New results from the first epoch of the CASLEO survey

Science.gov (United States)

Gil-Hutton, R.; Cellino, A.; Bendjoya, Ph.

2014-09-01

Aims: We present results of a polarimetric survey of main-belt asteroids at Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito (CASLEO), San Juan, Argentina. The aims of this survey are to increase the database of asteroid polarimetry, to estimate diversity in polarimetric properties of asteroids that belong to different taxonomic classes, and to search for objects that exhibit anomalous polarimetric properties. Methods: The data were obtained using the Torino and CASPROF polarimeters at the 2.15m telescope. The Torino polarimeter is an instrument that allows simultaneous measurement of polarization in five different bands, and the CASPROF polarimeter is a two-hole aperture polarimeter with rapid modulation. Results: The survey began in 1995, and until 2012 data on a large sample of asteroids were obtained. We here present and analyze the unpublished results for 129 asteroids of different taxonomic types, 56 which were polarimetrically observed for the first time. We find that the asteroids (402) Chloe and (729) Watsonia are Barbarians, and asteroid (269) Justitia shows a phase - polarization curve that seems to have a small inversion angle. Data obtained in UBVRI colors allow us to sketch an analysis of the wavelength dependence of the degree of linear polarization for 31 asteroids, in spite of some large error bars in some cases. Based on observations carried out at the Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito, operated under agreement between the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de la República Argentina and the National Universities of La Plata, Córdoba, and San Juan.Table 1 is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/569/A122

Asteroids from a Martian Mega Impact

Science.gov (United States)

Kohler, Susanna

2018-04-01

Like evidence left at a crime scene, the mineral olivine may be the clue that helps scientists piece together Marss possibly violent history. Could a long-ago giant impact have flung pieces of Mars throughout our inner solar system? Two researchers from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan are on the case.A Telltale MineralOlivine, a mineral that is common in Earths subsurface but weathers quickly on the surface. Olivine is a major component of Marss upper mantle. [Wilson44691]Olivine is a major component of the Martian upper mantle, making up 60% of this region by weight. Intriguingly, olivine turns up in other places in our solar system too for instance, in seven out of the nine known Mars Trojans (a group of asteroids of unknown origin that share Marss orbit), and in the rare A-type asteroids orbiting in the main asteroid belt.How did these asteroids form, and why are they so olivine-rich? An interesting explanation has been postulated: perhaps this olivine all came from the same place Mars as the result of a mega impact billions of years ago.Evidence for ImpactMars bears plenty of signs pointing to a giant impact in its past. The northern and sourthern hemispheres of Mars look very different, a phenomenon referred to as the Mars hemisphere dichotomy. The impact of a Pluto-sized body could explain the smooth Borealis Basin that covers the northern 40% of Marss surface.This high-resolution topographic map of Mars reveals the dichotomy between its northern and sourthern hemispheres. The smooth region in the northern hemisphere, the Borealis basin, may have been formed when a giant object impacted Mars billions of years ago. [NASA/JPL/USGS]Other evidence piles up: Marss orbit location, its rotation speed, the presence of its two moons all could be neatly explained by a large impact around 4 billion years ago. Could such an impact have also strewn debris from Marss mantle across the solar system?To test this theory, we need to determine if a mega impact is

RECTIFIED ASTEROID ALBEDOS AND DIAMETERS FROM IRAS AND MSX PHOTOMETRY CATALOGS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryan, Erin Lee; Woodward, Charles E.

2010-01-01

Rectified diameters and albedo estimates of 1517 main-belt asteroids selected from IRAS and the Mid-Course Space Experiment asteroid photometry catalogs are derived from updated infrared thermal models, the Standard Thermal Model and the Near-Earth Asteroid Thermal Model (NEATM), and Monte Carlo simulations, using new Minor Planet Center compilations of absolute magnitudes (H values) constrained by occultation- and radar-derived parameters. The NEATM approach produces a more robust estimate of albedos and diameters, yielding albedos of p v (NEATM mean) =0.081 ± 0.064. The asteroid beaming parameter (η) for the selected asteroids has a mean value of 1.07 ± 0.27, and the smooth distribution of η suggests that this parameter is independent of asteroid properties such as composition. No trends in η due to size-dependent rotation rates are evident. Comparison of derived values of η as a function of taxonomic type indicates that the beaming parameter values for S- and C-type asteroids are identical within the standard deviation of the population of beaming parameters.

Lightcurve Analysis for Near-Earth Asteroid (143404) 2003 BD44

Science.gov (United States)

Polakis, Tom; Warner, Brian D.; Skiff, Brian A.

2018-01-01

The synodic rotation period has been determined for the near-Earth asteroid (NEA) (143404) 2003 BD44. The asteroid was observed during three intervals with a rotation period on the order of 79 h determined in each case. The lightcurve exhibited rapidly changing morphology as the asteroid approached. Data have submitted to the ALCDEF database.

Rotation Frequencies of Small Jovian Trojan Asteroids: An Excess of Slow Rotators

Science.gov (United States)

French, Linda M.; Stephens, Robert D.; James, David J.; Coley, Daniel; Connour, Kyle

2015-11-01

Several lines of evidence support a common origin for, and possible hereditary link between, cometary nuclei and jovian Trojan asteroids. Due to their distance and low albedos, few comet-sized Trojans have been studied. We discuss the rotation properties of Jovian Trojan asteroids less than 30 km in diameter. Approximately half the 131 objects discussed here were studied using densely sampled lightcurves (French et al. 2015a, b); Stephens et al. 2015), and the other half were sparse lightcurves obtained by the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF; Waszcazk et al. 2015).A significant fraction (~40%) of the objects in the ground-based sample rotate slowly (P > 24h), with measured periods as long as 375 h (Warner and Stephens 2011). The PTF data show a similar excess of slow rotators. Only 5 objects in the combined data set have rotation periods of less than six hours. Three of these fast rotators were contained in the data set of French et al. these three had a geometric mean rotation period of 5.29 hours. A prolate spheroid held together by gravity rotating with this period would have a critical density of 0.43 gm/cm3, a density similar to that of comets (Lamy et al. 2004).Harris et al. (2012) and Warner et al. (2011) have explored the possible effects on asteroid rotational statistics with the results from wide-field surveys. We will examine Trojan rotation statistics with and without the results from the PTF.

Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous: mission overview

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, A. F.; Santo, A. G.; Heeres, K. J.; Landshof, J. A.; Farquhar, R. W.; Gold, R. E.; Lee, S. C.

1997-10-01

The Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission, the first launch of NASA's Discovery Program, will be the first mission to orbit an asteroid. NEAR will make the first comprehensive scientific measurements of an asteroid's surface composition, geology, physical properties, and internal structure. NEAR launched successfully on February 17, 1996, aboard a Delta II-7925. It will orbit the 20-km-diameter near-Earth asteroid 433 Eros for about 1 year, at a minimum orbit radius of about 35 km from the center of the asteroid. The NEAR is a solar-powered, three-axis stabilized spacecraft with a launch mass including propellant of 805 kg. NEAR uses X band telemetry to the NASA Deep Space Network, with the data rates at Eros up to 8.8 kbits/s using a 34-m High Efficiency (HEF) dish, and up to 26.5 kbits/s using a 70-m dish. A solid-state recorder is accommodated with a memory capacity of 1.8 Gbytes. Attitude control is to 1.7 mrad, line-of-sight pointing stability is within 50 μrad over 1 s, and post processing attitude knowledge is within 50 μrad. NEAR accommodates 56 kg of instruments and provides them with 84 W. The instruments are a multispectral imager (MSI), a near-infrared spectrograph (NIS), an X ray/gamma ray spectrometer (XRS/GRS), a magnetometer (MAG), and a laser rangefinder (NLR), while a radio science (RS) investigation uses the coherent X band transponder. NEAR will make a flyby of the C-type asteroid 253 Mathilde in June 1997 and will rendezvous with 433 Eros in February 1999. It will execute an initial slow flyby of Eros, with a flyby speed of 5 m/s and a closest approach distance of 500 km. Subsequently, its orbit will be lowered to 35 km. The NEAR Mission Operations Center and the Science Data Center are at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. The Science Data Center will maintain the entire NEAR data set on-line, and data from all instruments can be accessed by every member of the NEAR Science Team. Data, including images, are released over

Advances in Small Particle Handling of Astromaterials in Preparation for OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa2: Initial Developments

Science.gov (United States)

Snead, C. J.; McCubbin, F. M.; Nakamura-Messenger, K.; Righter, K.

2018-01-01

The Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation office at NASA Johnson Space Center has established an Advanced Curation program that is tasked with developing procedures, technologies, and data sets necessary for the curation of future astromaterials collections as envisioned by NASA exploration goals. One particular objective of the Advanced Curation program is the development of new methods for the collection, storage, handling and characterization of small (less than 100 micrometer) particles. Astromaterials Curation currently maintains four small particle collections: Cosmic Dust that has been collected in Earth's stratosphere by ER2 and WB-57 aircraft, Comet 81P/Wild 2 dust returned by NASA's Stardust spacecraft, interstellar dust that was returned by Stardust, and asteroid Itokawa particles that were returned by the JAXA's Hayabusa spacecraft. NASA Curation is currently preparing for the anticipated return of two new astromaterials collections - asteroid Ryugu regolith to be collected by Hayabusa2 spacecraft in 2021 (samples will be provided by JAXA as part of an international agreement), and asteroid Bennu regolith to be collected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and returned in 2023. A substantial portion of these returned samples are expected to consist of small particle components, and mission requirements necessitate the development of new processing tools and methods in order to maximize the scientific yield from these valuable acquisitions. Here we describe initial progress towards the development of applicable sample handling methods for the successful curation of future small particle collections.

Software Development for Asteroid and Variable Star Research

Science.gov (United States)

Sweckard, Teaghen; Clason, Timothy; Kenney, Jessica; Wuerker, Wolfgang; Palser, Sage; Giles, Tucker; Linder, Tyler; Sanchez, Richard

2018-01-01

The process of collecting and analyzing light curves from variable stars and asteroids is almost identical. In 2016 a collaboration was created to develop a simple fundamental way to study both asteroids and variable stars using methods that would allow the process to be repeated by middle school and high school students.Using robotic telescopes at Cerro Tololo (Chile), Yerkes Observatory (US), and Stone Edge Observatory (US) data were collected on RV Del and three asteroids. It was discovered that the only available software program which could be easily installed on lab computers was MPO Canopus. However, after six months it was determined that MPO Canopus was not an acceptable option because of the steep learning curve, lack of documentation and technical support.Therefore, the project decided that the best option was to design our own python based software. Using python and python libraries we developed code that can be used for photometry and can be easily changed to the user's needs. We accomplished this by meeting with our mentor astronomer, Tyler Linder, and in the beginning wrote two different programs, one for asteroids and one for variable stars. In the end, though, we chose to combine codes so that the program would be capable of performing photometry for both moving and static objects.The software performs differential photometry by comparing the magnitude of known reference stars to the object being studied. For asteroids, the image timestamps are used to obtain ephemeris of the asteroid from JPL Horizons automatically.

Robotic traverse and sample return strategies for a lunar farside mission to the Schrodinger basin

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Potts, N.J.; Gullikson, A.L.; Curran, N.M.; Dhaliwal, J.K.; Leader, M.K.; Rege, R.N.; Klaus, K.K.; Kring, D.A.

2015-01-01

Most of the highest priority objectives for lunar science and exploration (e.g.; NRC, 2007) require sample return. Studies of the best places to conduct that work have identified Schrödinger basin as a geologically rich area, able to address a significant number of these scientific concepts. In this

Dust arcs in the region of Jupiter's Trojan asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xiaodong; Schmidt, Jürgen

2018-01-01

Aims: The surfaces of the Trojan asteroids are steadily bombarded by interplanetary micrometeoroids, which releases ejecta of small dust particles. These particles form the faint dust arcs that are associated with asteroid clouds. Here we analyze the particle dynamics and structure of the arc in the region of the L4 Trojan asteroids. Methods: We calculate the total cross section of the L4 Trojan asteroids and the production rate of dust particles. The motion of the particles is perturbed by a variety of forces. We simulate the dynamical evolution of the dust particles, and explore the overall features of the Trojan dust arc. Results: The simulations show that the arc is mainly composed of grains in the size range 4-10 microns. Compared to the L4 Trojan asteroids, the dust arc is distributed more widely in the azimuthal direction, extending to a range of [30, 120] degrees relative to Jupiter. The peak number density does not develop at L4. There exist two peaks that are azimuthally displaced from L4.

Predictable return distributions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Thomas Quistgaard

trace out the entire distribution. A univariate quantile regression model is used to examine stock and bond return distributions individually, while a multivariate model is used to capture their joint distribution. An empirical analysis on US data shows that certain parts of the return distributions......-of-sample analyses show that the relative accuracy of the state variables in predicting future returns varies across the distribution. A portfolio study shows that an investor with power utility can obtain economic gains by applying the empirical return distribution in portfolio decisions instead of imposing...

Asteroids Dynamic Site-AstDyS

Science.gov (United States)

Knezevic, Zoran; Milani, Andrea

2012-08-01

The AstDyS online information service (http://hamilton.dm.unipi.it/astdys/) contains data on numbered and multi - opposition asteroids, including orbital elements, their uncertainty, proper elements, ephemerides with uncertainty, and more. AstDyS also provides additional scientific output computed from the raw observational data. This value added currently includes: more accurate orbits computed with advanced dynamical and observational error model s; their uncertainty, as expressed by the covariance matrix formalism; ephemerides computed on request for each observer, with uncertainty; mean and proper orbital elements (for this output, AstDyS is the primary source worldwide); statistical quality control, providing a rigorous observational error model. All this is available with a sophisticated web interface, providing multiple search functions and online computations as well as complete orbital and residual files. There are several ways in which the A stDyS service could be expanded and improved in the next future, like the explicit classification of asteroids into asteroid families, the classification of resonant asteroids, and an updated self - consistent population model (to be used, e.g., for survey simulations). The IAU Division I endorsed the proposal for AstDyS to become an IAU (permanent) service, which would include the IAU supervision of the AstDyS system, keeping under control the quality of the work and the continuous update under conditions of scientific competition.

FIRST VLTI-MIDI DIRECT DETERMINATIONS OF ASTEROID SIZES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delbo, M.; Ligori, S.; Cellino, A.; Matter, A.; Berthier, J.

2009-01-01

We have obtained the first successful interferometric measurements of asteroid sizes and shapes by means of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer-Mid-Infrared Interferometric Instrument (VLTI-MIDI). The VLTI can spatially resolve asteroids in a range of sizes and heliocentric distances that are not accessible to other techniques such as adaptive optics and radar. We have observed, as a typical bench mark, the asteroid (951) Gaspra, visited in the past by the Galileo space probe, and we derive a size in good agreement with the ground truth coming from the in situ measurements by the Galileo mission. Moreover, we have also observed the asteroid (234) Barbara, known to exhibit unusual polarimetric properties, and we found evidence of a potential binary nature. In particular, our data are best fit by a system of two bodies of 37 and 21 km in diameter, separated by a center-to-center distance of ∼24 km (projected along the direction of the baseline at the epoch of our observations).

Association between meteor showers and asteroids using multivariate criteria

Science.gov (United States)

Dumitru, B. A.; Birlan, M.; Popescu, M.; Nedelcu, D. A.

2017-10-01

Context. Meteoroid streams are fragments of matter produced by comets or asteroids which intersects the orbit of Earth. Meteor showers are produced when Earth intersects these streams of matter. The discoveries of active asteroids and extinct comets open a new view of the relation between these objects as possible parent bodies at the origin of meteor showers. Aims: The aim of this work is to identify the asteroids that can produce or re-populate meteoroid streams by determining the similarity of their orbits and orbital evolution over 10 000 yr. Methods: The identification was carried out by evaluating several well known D-criteria metrics, the orbits being taken from the IAU Meteor Data Center database and from IAU Minor Planet Center. Finally, we analyzed the physical properties and the orbital stability (in the Lyapunov time sense) of the candidates as well as their possible relationship with meteorites. Results: 206 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) were associated as possible parent bodies with 28 meteor showers, according to at least two of the criterion used. 50 of them satisfied all the criteria. Notable finds are: binary asteroid 2000UG11 associated with Andromedids (AND), while the tumbling asteroid (4179)Toutatis could be associated with October Capricornids (OCC). Other possible good candidates are 2004TG10, 2008EY5, 2010CF55, 2010TU149 and 2014OY1. These objects have low albedo, therefore can be primitive objects. Asteroid 2007LW19 which is a fast rotator and most probably has monolithic structure and so its physical characteristic does not support the association found based on the dynamical criteria.

Assessment of the Gaussian Covariance Approximation over an Earth-Asteroid Encounter Period

Science.gov (United States)

Mattern, Daniel W.

2017-01-01

In assessing the risk an asteroid may pose to the Earth, the asteroids state is often predicted for many years, often decades. Only by accounting for the asteroids initial state uncertainty can a measure of the risk be calculated. With the asteroids state uncertainty growing as a function of the initial velocity uncertainty, orbit velocity at the last state update, and the time from the last update to the epoch of interest, the asteroids position uncertainties can grow to many times the size of the Earth when propagated to the encounter risk corridor. This paper examines the merits of propagating the asteroids state covariance as an analytical matrix. The results of this study help to bound the efficacy of applying different metrics for assessing the risk an asteroid poses to the Earth. Additionally, this work identifies a criterion for when different covariance propagation methods are needed to continue predictions after an Earth-encounter period.

Surface Properties of Asteroids from Mid-Infrared Observations and Thermophysical Modeling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mueller, Michael

The subject of this work is the physical characterization of asteroids, focusing on the thermal inertia of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). Thermal inertia governs the Yarkovsky effect, a non-gravitational force which significantly alters the orbits of asteroids up to \\sim 20 km in diameter. Yet, very

52-COLOR ASTEROID SURVEY

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data set contains 52-color IR data of asteroids, taken using a double circularly variable filter. The short wavelength portion of the CVF covered the octave...

Calculating the momentum enhancement factor for asteroid deflection studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heberling, Tamra; Gisler, Galen; Plesko, Catherine; Weaver, Robert

2017-01-01

The possibility of kinetic-impact deflection of threatening near-Earth asteroids will be tested for the first time in the proposed AIDA (Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment) mission, involving NASAs DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test). The impact of the DART spacecraft onto the secondary of the binary asteroid 65803 Didymos at a speed of 5 to 7 km/s is expected to alter the mutual orbit by an observable amount. Furthermore, the velocity transferred to the secondary depends largely on the momentum enhancement factor, typically referred to as beta. Here, we use two hydrocodes developed at Los Alamos, RAGE and PAGOSA, to calculate an approximate value for beta in laboratory-scale benchmark experiments. Convergence studies comparing the two codes show the importance of mesh size in estimating this crucial parameter.

Modeling Asteroid Dynamics using AMUSE: First Test Cases

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Frantseva, Kateryna; Mueller, Michael; van der Tak, Floris; Helmich, Frank P.

2015-01-01

We are creating a dynamic model of the current asteroid population. The goal is to reproduce measured impact rates in the current Solar System, from which we'll derive delivery rates of water and organic material by tracing low-albedo C-class asteroids (using the measured albedo distribution from

Earth-approaching asteroids: Populations, origin, and compositional types

Science.gov (United States)

Shoemaker, E. M.; Helin, E. F.

1978-01-01

Origin, physical properties, and discovery history of smaller asteroids are reviewed. They appear to link the main belt objects, namely the comets and meteorites. Physical observations suggest that a wide variety of compositional types are represented among the near-earth asteroids; the apparent rarity of carbonaceous objects is stated.

Asteroids Lightcurves Analysis: 2016 November - 2017 June

Science.gov (United States)

Carbognani, Albino; Bacci, Paolo; Buzzi, Luca

2018-01-01

Twelve near-Earth asteroids were observed from 2016 November through 2017 June to find the synodic rotation period and lightcurve amplitudes for each asteroid. Results are reported for 2329 Orthos, (138846) 2000 VJ61, (326683) 2002 WP, (489337) 2006 UM, (494706) 2005 GL9, 2005 TF, 2017 BJ30, 2017 BQ6, 2017 CS, 2017 DC36, 2017 GK4, and 2017 JA2.

Asteroid retrieval missions enabled by invariant manifold dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Sánchez, Joan Pau; García Yárnoz, Daniel

2016-10-01

Near Earth Asteroids are attractive targets for new space missions; firstly, because of their scientific importance, but also because of their impact threat and prospective resources. The asteroid retrieval mission concept has thus arisen as a synergistic approach to tackle these three facets of interest in one single mission. This paper reviews the methodology used by the authors (2013) in a previous search for objects that could be transported from accessible heliocentric orbits into the Earth's neighbourhood at affordable costs (or Easily Retrievable Objects, a.k.a. EROs). This methodology consisted of a heuristic pruning and an impulsive manoeuvre trajectory optimisation. Low thrust propulsion on the other hand clearly enables the transportation of much larger objects due to its higher specific impulse. Hence, in this paper, low thrust retrieval transfers are sought using impulsive trajectories as first guesses to solve the optimal control problem. GPOPS-II is used to transcribe the continuous-time optimal control problem to a nonlinear programming problem (NLP). The latter is solved by IPOPT, an open source software package for large-scale NLPs. Finally, a natural continuation procedure that increases the asteroid mass allows to find out the largest objects that could be retrieved from a given asteroid orbit. If this retrievable mass is larger than the actual mass of the asteroid, the asteroid retrieval mission for this particular object is said to be feasible. The paper concludes with an updated list of 17 EROs, as of April 2016, with their maximum retrievable masses by means of low thrust propulsion. This ranges from 2000 tons for the easiest object to be retrieved to 300 tons for the least accessible of them.

Asteroid families, dynamics and astrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, J.G.; Gibson, J.

1987-01-01

The proper elements and family assignments for the 1227 Palomar-Leiden Survey asteroids of high quality were tabulated. In addition to the large table, there are also auxiliary tables of Mars crossers and commensurate objects, histograms of the proper element distributions, and a discussion. Probably the most important part of the discussion describes the Mars crossing boundary, how the closest distances of approach to Mars and Jupiter are calculated, and why the observed population of Mars crossers should bombard that planet episodically rather than uniformly. Analytical work was done to derive velocity distributions of family forming events from proper element distributions subject to assumptions which may be appropriate for cratering events. Software was developed for a microcomputer to permit plotting of the proper elements. Three orthogonal views are generated and stereo pairs can be printed when desired. This program was created for the study of asteroid families. The astrometry task is directed toward measuring and reducing positions on faint comets and the minor planets with less common orbits. The observational material is CCD frames taken with the Palomar 1.5 m telescope. Positions of 10 comets and 16 different asteroids were published on the Minor Planet Circulars

Near Earth Asteroid Scout

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Near-Earth Asteroid Scout, or NEA Scout, is a 6U CubeSat developed jointly between NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA...

Study of the Asteroid 2009 DL46

Science.gov (United States)

Vodniza, Alberto Quijano

2017-06-01

2009 DL46 was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey on 2009-February 28. This asteroid has a diameter of about 194 meters (119 to 268 meters) [1], and Brian Warner has obtained a rotation period of at least 10 hours [2]. The asteroid 2009 DL46 flew past Earth on May 24/2016 at a distance of about 6.2 lunar distances (0.0158293668567628 A.U) [3]. The NEOWISE mission had a great likelihood to observing this asteroid in early May. Radiotelescopes of Goldstone and Arecibo had planned to make observations of 2009 DL46. “Using the Goldstone facility, we had planned to make radar observations of 2009 DL46” said Landis, Rob R. (HQ-DG000). This asteroid is on list for possible human mission targets. From our Observatory, located in Pasto-Colombia, we captured several pictures, videos and astrometry data during several hours during three days. Our data was published by the Minor Planet Center (MPC) and also appears at the web page of NEODyS [4]. The pictures and data of the asteroid were captured with the following equipment: CGE PRO 1400 CELESTRON (f/11 Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope) and STL-1001 SBIG camera.. Astrometry was carried out, and we calculated the orbital elements. Summary and conclusions: We obtained the following orbital parameters: eccentricity = 0.30731 +/- 0.00025, semi-major axis = 1.460279 +/- 0.000532 A.U, orbital inclination = 7.9503 +/- 0.0048 deg, longitude of the ascending node = 63.45053 +/- 0.00034 deg, argument of perihelion = 159.8804 +/- 0.0024 deg, mean motion = 0.558535 +/- 0.000305 deg/d, perihelion distance = 1.01151363 +/- 3.39e-6 A.U, aphelion distance = 1.90904 +/- 0.00106 A.U, absolute magnitude = 22.5. The parameters were calculated based on 83 observations. Dates: 2016 May: 18 to 21 with mean residual = 0.29 arcseconds. The asteroid has an orbital period of 1.76 years (644.53 days).[1] http://newton.dm.unipi.it/neodys/index.php?pc=1.1.9&n=2009DL46.[2] http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/2009DL46/2009DL46_planning.html[3] http

24-COLOR ASTEROID SURVEY

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This dataset is comprised of asteroid flux data measured in 26 filters using the McCord dual beam photometer, and covering the range 0.32 - 1.08 microns for 285...

Discovery and dynamical characterization of the Amor-class asteroid 2012 XH16

Science.gov (United States)

Wlodarczyk, I.; Cernis, K.; Boyle, R. P.; Laugalys, V.

2014-03-01

The near-Earth asteroid belt is continuously replenished with material originally moving in Amor-class orbits. Here, the orbit of the dynamically interesting Amor-class asteroid 2012 XH16 is analysed. This asteroid was discovered with the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) at the Mt Graham International Observatory as part of an ongoing asteroid survey focused on astrometry and photometry. The orbit of the asteroid was computed using 66 observations (57 obtained with VATT and 9 from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory-Spacewatch II project) to give a = 1.63 au, e = 0.36, i = 3.76°. The absolute magnitude of the asteroid is 22.3 which translates into a diameter in the range 104-231 m, assuming the average albedos of S-type and C-type asteroids, respectively. We have used the current orbit to study the future dynamical evolution of the asteroid under the perturbations of the planets and the Moon, relativistic effects, and the Yarkovsky force. Asteroid 2012 XH16 is locked close to the strong 1:2 mean motion resonance with the Earth. The object shows stable evolution and could survive in near-resonance for a relatively long period of time despite experiencing frequent close encounters with Mars. Moreover, results of our computations show that the asteroid 2012 XH16 can survive in the Amor region at most for about 200-400 Myr. The evolution is highly chaotic with a characteristic Lyapunov time of 245 yr. Jupiter is the main perturber but the effects of Saturn, Mars and the Earth-Moon system are also important. In particular, secular resonances with Saturn are significant.

On the construction of the Kolmogorov normal form for the Trojan asteroids

CERN Document Server

Gabern, F; Locatelli, U

2004-01-01

In this paper we focus on the stability of the Trojan asteroids for the planar Restricted Three-Body Problem (RTBP), by extending the usual techniques for the neighbourhood of an elliptic point to derive results in a larger vicinity. Our approach is based on the numerical determination of the frequencies of the asteroid and the effective computation of the Kolmogorov normal form for the corresponding torus. This procedure has been applied to the first 34 Trojan asteroids of the IAU Asteroid Catalog, and it has worked successfully for 23 of them. The construction of this normal form allows for computer-assisted proofs of stability. To show it, we have implemented a proof of existence of families of invariant tori close to a given asteroid, for a high order expansion of the Hamiltonian. This proof has been successfully applied to three Trojan asteroids.

Space weathering trends on carbonaceous asteroids: A possible explanation for Bennu's blue slope?

Science.gov (United States)

Lantz, C.; Binzel, R. P.; DeMeo, F. E.

2018-03-01

We compare primitive near-Earth asteroid spectral properties to the irradiated carbonaceous chondrite samples of Lantz et al. (2017) in order to assess how space weathering processes might influence taxonomic classification. Using the same eigenvectors from the asteroid taxonomy by DeMeo et al. (2009), we calculate the principal components for fresh and irradiated meteorites and find that change in spectral slope (blueing or reddening) causes a corresponding shift in the two first principal components along the same line that the C- and X-complexes track. Using a sample of B-, C-, X-, and D-type NEOs with visible and near-infrared spectral data, we further investigated the correlation between prinicipal components and the spectral curvature for the primitive asteroids. We find that space weathering effects are not just slope and albedo, but also include spectral curvature. We show how, through space weathering, surfaces having an original "C-type" reflectance can thus turn into a redder P-type or a bluer B-type, and that space weathering can also decrease (and disguise) the D-type population. Finally we take a look at the case of OSIRIS-REx target (101955) Bennu and propose an explanation for the blue and possibly red spectra that were previously observed on different locations of its surface: parts of Bennu's surface could have become blue due to space weathering, while fresher areas are redder. No clear prediction can be made on Hayabusa-2 target (162173) Ryugu.

Reduction of Martian Sample Return Mission Launch Mass with Solar Sail Propulsion

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, Tiffany E.; Heaton, Andrew; Thomas, Scott; Thomas, Dan; Young, Roy; Baysinger, Mike; Capizzo, Pete; Fabisinski, Leo; Hornsby, Linda; Maples, Dauphne;

Sample Return Robot

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This Challenge requires demonstration of an autonomous robotic system to locate and collect a set of specific sample types from a large planetary analog area and...

Dust bands in the asteroid belt

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sykes, M.V.; Greenberg, R.; Dermott, S.F.; Nicholson, P.D.; Burns, J.A.

1989-01-01

This paper describes the original IRAS observations leading to the discovery of the three dust bands in the asteroid belt and the analysis of data. Special attention is given to an analytical model of the dust band torus and to theories concerning the origin of the dust bands, with special attention given to the collisional equilibrium (asteroid family), the nonequilibrium (random collision), and the comet hypotheses of dust-band origin. It is noted that neither the equilibrium nor nonequilibrium models, as currently formulated, present a complete picture of the IRAS dust-band observations. 32 refs

Geologic History of Asteroid 4 Vesta

Science.gov (United States)

Mittlefehldt, David W.

2014-01-01

Some types of meteorites - most irons, stony irons, some achondrites - hail from asteroids that were heated to the point where magmatism occurred within a very few million years of the formation of the earliest solids in the solar system. The largest clan of achondrites, the howardite, eucrite and diogenite (HED) meteorites, represent the crust of their parent asteroid]. Diogenites are cumulate harzburgites and orthopyroxenites from the lower crust whilst eucrites are basalts, diabases and cumulate gabbros from the upper crust. Howardites are impact-engendered breccias mostly of diogenites and eucrites. There remains only one large asteroid with a basaltic crust, 4 Vesta, which is thought to be the source of the HED clan. Differentiation models for Vesta are based on HED compositions. Proto-Vesta consisted of chondritic materials containing Al-26, a potent, short-lived heat source. Inferences from compositional data are that Vesta was melted to high degree (=50%) allowing homogenization of the silicate phase and separation of a metallic core. Convection of the silicate magma ocean allowed equilibrium crystallization, forming a harzburgitic mantle. After convective lockup occurred, melt collected between the mantle and the cool thermal boundary layer and underwent fractional crystallization forming an orthopyroxene-rich (diogenite) lower crust. The initial thermal boundary layer of chondritic material was replaced by a mafic upper crust through impact disruption and foundering. The mafic crust thickened over time as additional residual magma intrudes and penetrates the mafic crust forming plutons, dikes, sills and flows of cumulate and basaltic eucrite composition. This magmatic history may have taken only 2-3 Myr. This magma ocean scenario is at odds with a model of heat and magma transport that indicates that small degrees of melt would be rapidly expelled from source regions, precluding development of a magma ocean. Constraints from radiogenic Mg-26 distibutions

Mars Earth Return Vehicle (MERV) Propulsion Options

Science.gov (United States)

Oleson, Steven R.; McGuire, Melissa L.; Burke, Laura; Fincannon, James; Warner, Joe; Williams, Glenn; Parkey, Thomas; Colozza, Tony; Fittje, Jim; Martini, Mike;

Volume and mass distribution in selected families of asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Wlodarczyk, I.; Leliwa-Kopystynski, J.

2014-07-01

Members of five asteroid families (Vesta, Eos, Eunomia, Koronis, and Themis) were identified using the Hierarchical Clustering Method (HCM) for a data set containing 292,003 numbered asteroids. The influence of the choice of the best value of the parameter v_{cut} that controls the distances of asteroids in the proper elements space a, e, i was investigated with a step as small as 1 m/s. Results are given in a set of figures showing the families on the planes (a, e), (a, i), (e, i). Another form for the presentation of results is related to the secular resonances in the asteroids' motion with the giant planets, mostly with Saturn. Relations among asteroid radius, albedo, and absolute magnitude allow us to calculate the volumes of individual members of an asteroid family. After summation, the volumes of the parent bodies of the families were found. This paper presents the possibility and the first results of using a combined method for asteroid family identifications based on the following items: (i) Parameter v_{cut} is established with precision as high as 1 m/s; (ii) the albedo (if available) of the potential members is considered for approving or rejecting the family membership; (iii) a color classification is used for the same purpose as well. Searching for the most reliable parameter values for the family populations was performed by means of a consecutive application of the HCM with increasing parameter v_{cut}. The results are illustrated in the figure. Increasing v_{cut} in steps as small as 1 m/s allowed to observe the computational strength of the HCM: the critical value of the parameter v_{cut} (see the breaking-points of the plots in the figure) separates the assemblage of potential family members from 'an ocean' of background asteroids that are not related to the family. The critical values of v_{cut} vary from 57 m/s for the Vesta family to 92 m/s for the Eos family. If the parameter v_{cut} surpasses its critical value, the number of HCM

Radar observations of asteroids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ostro, S.J.

1989-01-01

This paper describes echoes from 33 main-belt asteroids (MBAs) and 19 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) have provided a wealth of new information about these objects such as sizes, shapes, spin vectors, and such surface characteristics as decimeter-scale morphology, topographic relief, regolith porosity and metal concentrations. On average, small NEAs are much rougher at decimeter scales than MBAs, comets or terrestrial planets. Some of the largest MBAs (e.g., 1 Ceres and 2 Pallas ) are smoother than the moon at decimeter scales but much rougher than the Moon at some much larger scale. There is at least a five-fold variation in the radar albedos of MBAs, implying substantial variations in the surface porosities or metal concentrations of these objects. The highest MBA albedo estimate, for 16 Psyche, is consistent with a metal concentration near unity and lunar porosities

Overview of Mission Design for NASA Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission Concept

Science.gov (United States)

Strange, Nathan; Landau, Damon; McElrath, Timothy; Lantoine, Gregory; Lam, Try; McGuire, Melissa; Burke, Laura; Martini, Michael; Dankanich, John

2013-01-01

Part of NASA's new asteroid initiative would be a robotic mission to capture a roughly four to ten meter asteroid and redirect its orbit to place it in translunar space. Once in a stable storage orbit at the Moon, astronauts would then visit the asteroid for science investigations, to test in space resource extraction, and to develop experience with human deep space missions. This paper discusses the mission design techniques that would enable the redirection of a 100-1000 metric ton asteroid into lunar orbit with a 40-50 kW Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) system.

Towing Asteroids with Gravity Tractors Enhanced by Tethers and Solar Sails

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Haijun; Roithmayr, Carlos M.

2015-01-01

Material collected from an asteroid's surface can be used to increase gravitational attraction between the asteroid and a Gravity Tractor (GT); the spacecraft therefore operates more effectively and is referred to as an Enhanced Gravity Tractor (EGT). The use of tethers and solar sails to further improve effectiveness and simplify operations is investigated. By employing a tether, the asteroidal material can be placed close to the asteroid while the spacecraft is stationed farther away, resulting in a better safety margin and improved thruster efficiency. A solar sail on a spacecraft can naturally provide radial offset and inter-spacecraft separation required for multiple EGTs.

Money growth and aggregate stock returns

OpenAIRE

Böing, Tobias; Stadtmann, Georg

2016-01-01

We empirically evaluate the predictive power of money growth measured by M2 for stock returns of the S&P 500 index. We use monthly US data and predict multiperiod returns over 1, 3, and 5 years with long-horizon regressions. In-sample regressions show that money growth is useful for predicting returns. Higher recent money growth has a significantly negative effect on subsequent returns of the S&P 500. An out-of-sample analysis shows that a simple model with money growth as a single predictor ...

Autonomous determination of orbit for probe around asteroids using unscented Kalman filter

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

崔平远; 崔祜涛; 黄翔宇; 栾恩杰

2003-01-01

The observed images of the asteroid and the asteroid reference images are used to obtain the probe-to-asteroid direction and the location of the limb features of the asteroid in the inertial coordinate. These informa-tion in combination with the shape model of the asteroid and attitude information of the probe are utilized to ob-tain the position of the probe. The position information is then input to the UKF which determines the real-timeorbit of the probe. Finally, the autonomous orbit determination algorithm is validated using digital simulation.The determination of orbit using UKF is compared with that using extended Kalman filter (EKF), and the resultshows that UKF is superior to EKF.

Business analysis: The commercial mission of the International Asteroid Mission

Science.gov (United States)

The mission of the International Asteroid Mission (IAM) is providing asteroidal resources to support activities in space. The short term goal is to initiate IAM by mining a near-Earth, hydrous carbonaceous chondrite asteroid to service the nearer-term market of providing cryogenic rocket fuel in low lunar orbit (LLO). The IAM will develop and contract for the building of the transportation vehicles and equipment necessary for this undertaking. The long-term goal is to expand operations by exploiting asteroids in other manners, as these options become commercially viable. The primary business issues are what revenue can be generated from the baseline mission, how much will the mission cost, and how funding for this mission can be raised. These issues are addressed.

Moving an asteroid with electric solar wind sail

Science.gov (United States)

Merikallio, S.; Janhunen, P.

2010-12-01

The electric solar wind sail (E-Sail) is a new propulsion method for interplanetary travel which was invented in 2006 and is currently under development. The E-Sail uses charged tethers to extract momentum from the solar wind particles to obtain propulsive thrust. According to current estimates, the E-Sail is 2-3 orders of magnitude better than traditional propulsion methods (chemical rockets and ion engines) in terms of produced lifetime-integrated impulse per propulsion system mass. Here we analyze the problem of using the E-Sail for directly deflecting an Earth-threatening asteroid. The problem then culminates into how to attach the E-Sail device to the asteroid. We assess alternative attachment strategies, namely straightforward direct towing with a cable and the gravity tractor method which works for a wider variety of situations. We also consider possible techniques to scale up the E-Sail force beyond the baseline one Newton level to deal with more imminent or larger asteroid or cometary threats. As a baseline case we consider an asteroid of effective diameter of 140 m and mass of 3 million tons, which can be deflected with a baseline 1 N E-Sail within 10 years. With a 5 N E-Sail the deflection could be achieved in 5 years. Once developed, the E-Sail would appear to provide a safe and reasonably low-cost way of deflecting dangerous asteroids and other heavenly bodies in cases where the collision threat becomes known several years in advance.

Example Solar Electric Propulsion System asteroid tours using variational calculus

Science.gov (United States)

Burrows, R. R.

1985-01-01

Exploration of the asteroid belt with a vehicle utilizing a Solar Electric Propulsion System has been proposed in past studies. Some of those studies illustrated multiple asteroid rendezvous with trajectories obtained using approximate methods. Most of the inadequacies of those approximations are overcome in this paper, which uses the calculus of variations to calculate the trajectories and associated payloads of four asteroid tours. The modeling, equations, and solution techniques are discussed, followed by a presentation of the results.

Asteroids, meteorites, and comets

CERN Document Server

Elkins-Tanton, Linda T

2010-01-01

Asteroids, Comets, and Meteorites provides students, researchers, and general readers with the most up-to-date information on this fascinating field. From the days of the dinosaurs to our modern environment, this book explores all aspects of these cosmic invaders.

Spectral Characterization of Analog Samples in Anticipation of OSIRIS-REx's Arrival at Bennu

Science.gov (United States)

Donaldson Hanna, K. L.; Schrader, D. L.; Bowles, N. E.; Clark, B. E.; Cloutis, E. A.; Connolly, H. C., Jr.; Hamilton, V. E.; Keller, L. P.; Lauretta, D. S.; Lim, L. F.;

AsteroidFinder - the space-borne telescope to search for NEO Asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Hartl, M.; Mosebach, H.; Schubert, J.; Michaelis, H.; Mottola, S.; Kührt, E.; Schindler, K.

2017-11-01

This paper presents the mission profile as well as the optical configuration of the space-borne AsteroidFinder telescope. Its main objective is to retrieve asteroids with orbits interior to the earth's orbit. The instrument requires high sensitivity to detect asteroids with a limiting magnitude of equal or larger than 18.5mag (V-Band) and astrometric accuracy of 1arcsec (1σ). This requires a telescope aperture greater than 400cm2, high image stability, detector with high quantum efficiency (peak > 90%) and very low noise, which is only limited by zodiacal background. The telescope will observe the sky between 30° and 60° in solar elongation. The telescope optics is based on a Cook type TMA. An effective 2°×2° field of view (FOV) is achieved by a fast F/3.4 telescope with near diffraction-limited performance. The absence of centre obscuration or spiders in combination with an accessible intermediate field plane and exit pupil allow for efficient stray light mitigation. Design drivers for the telescope are the required point spread function (PSF) values, an extremely efficient stray light suppression (due to the magnitude requirement mentioned above), the detector performance, and the overall optical and mechanical stability for all orientations of the satellite. To accommodate the passive thermal stabilization scheme and the necessary structural stability, the materials selection for the telescope main structure and the mirrors are of vital importance. A focal plane with four EMCCD detectors is envisaged. The EMCCD technology features shorter integration times, which is in favor regarding the pointing performance of the satellite. The launch of the mission is foreseen for the year 2013 with a subsequent mission lifetime of at least 1 year.

Optimized Bucket Wheel Design for Asteroid Excavation

OpenAIRE

Nallapu, Ravi Teja; Thoesen, Andrew; Garvie, Laurence; Asphaug, Erik; Thangavelautham, Jekanthan

2017-01-01

Current spacecraft need to launch with all of their required fuel for travel. This limits the system performance, payload capacity, and mission flexibility. One compelling alternative is to perform In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) by extracting fuel from small bodies in local space such as asteroids or small satellites. Compared to the Moon or Mars, the microgravity on an asteroid demands a fraction of the energy for digging and accessing hydrated regolith just below the surface. Previous ...

Assessing the physical nature of near-Earth asteroids through their dynamical histories

Science.gov (United States)

Fernández, Julio A.; Sosa, Andrea; Gallardo, Tabaré; Gutiérrez, Jorge N.

2014-08-01

We analyze a sample of 139 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs), defined as those that reach perihelion distances q4.8 au), having Tisserand parameters 2family comets (JFCs) in near-Earth orbits, i.e. with q4.8 au of cometary origin, but it could be even lower if the NEAs in unstable orbits listed before turn out to be bona fide asteroids from the main belt. This study strengthens the idea that NEAs and comets essentially are two distinct populations, and that periods of dormancy in comets must be rare. Most likely, active comets in near-Earth orbits go through a continuous erosion process in successive perihelion passages until disintegration into meteoritic dust and fragments of different sizes. In this scenario, 289P/Blanpain might be a near-devolatized fragment from a by now disintegrated parent comet.

Determination of pole orientations and shapes of asteroids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Magnusson, P.; Barucci, M.A.; Drummond, J.D.; Lumme, K.; Surdej, J.

1989-01-01

The principles of asteroid lightcurve inversion and the information available from photometry are reviewed. General tools as well as specific techniques for shape and pole determinations are summarized and their advantages and shortcomings are discussed. The authors present the results obtained so far in this very active field and discuss their significance in the general context of asteroid research and planetary formation

Mothe-Diniz Asteroid Dynamical Families V1.0

Science.gov (United States)

Mothe-Diniz, T.; Roig, F.; Carvano, J. M.

2006-03-01

This dataset contains an updated compilation of asteroid families and clusters, resulting from the application of the Hierarchical Clustering Method (HCM) on a set of around 120,000 asteroids with available proper elements. Whenever available, the classification in the Bus taxonomy is provided for family members, based on spectra from the SMASS, SMASS2 and S3OS2 spectroscopic surveys.

THE PUZZLING MUTUAL ORBIT OF THE BINARY TROJAN ASTEROID (624) HEKTOR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marchis, F.; Cuk, M. [Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA 94043 (United States); Durech, J. [Astronomical Institute, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague (Czech Republic); Castillo-Rogez, J. [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Vachier, F.; Berthier, J. [IMCCE-Obs de Paris, F-75014 Paris (France); Wong, M. H.; Kalas, P.; Duchene, G. [Department of Astronomy, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Van Dam, M. A. [Flat Wavefronts, Christchurch 8140 (New Zealand); Hamanowa, H. [Hamanowa Observatory, Motomiya, Fukushima 969-1204 (Japan); Viikinkoski, M., E-mail: fmarchis@seti.org [Tampere University of Technology, FI-33101 Tampere (Finland)

2014-03-10

Asteroids with satellites are natural laboratories to constrain the formation and evolution of our solar system. The binary Trojan asteroid (624) Hektor is the only known Trojan asteroid to possess a small satellite. Based on W. M. Keck adaptive optics observations, we found a unique and stable orbital solution, which is uncommon in comparison to the orbits of other large multiple asteroid systems studied so far. From lightcurve observations recorded since 1957, we showed that because the large Req = 125 km primary may be made of two joint lobes, the moon could be ejecta of the low-velocity encounter, which formed the system. The inferred density of Hektor's system is comparable to the L5 Trojan doublet (617) Patroclus but due to their difference in physical properties and in reflectance spectra, both captured Trojan asteroids could have a different composition and origin.

THE PUZZLING MUTUAL ORBIT OF THE BINARY TROJAN ASTEROID (624) HEKTOR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marchis, F.; Cuk, M.; Durech, J.; Castillo-Rogez, J.; Vachier, F.; Berthier, J.; Wong, M. H.; Kalas, P.; Duchene, G.; Van Dam, M. A.; Hamanowa, H.; Viikinkoski, M.

2014-01-01

Asteroids with satellites are natural laboratories to constrain the formation and evolution of our solar system. The binary Trojan asteroid (624) Hektor is the only known Trojan asteroid to possess a small satellite. Based on W. M. Keck adaptive optics observations, we found a unique and stable orbital solution, which is uncommon in comparison to the orbits of other large multiple asteroid systems studied so far. From lightcurve observations recorded since 1957, we showed that because the large Req = 125 km primary may be made of two joint lobes, the moon could be ejecta of the low-velocity encounter, which formed the system. The inferred density of Hektor's system is comparable to the L5 Trojan doublet (617) Patroclus but due to their difference in physical properties and in reflectance spectra, both captured Trojan asteroids could have a different composition and origin

Discovery of M class objects among the near-earth asteroid population

Science.gov (United States)

Tedesco, Edward F.; Gradie, Jonathan

1987-01-01

Broadband colorimetry, visual photometry, near-infrared photometry, and 10 and 20 micron radiometry of the near-earth asteroids (NEAs) 1986 DA and 1986 EB are used to show that these objects belong to the M class of asteroids. The similarity among the distributions of taxonomic classes among the 38 NEAs to the abundances found in the inner astoroid belt between the 3:1 and 5:2 resonances suggests that NEAs have their origins among asteroids in the vicinity of these resonances. The implied mineralogy of 1986 DA and 1986 EB is mostly nickel-iron metal; if this is indeed the case, then current models for meteorite production based on strength-related collisional processes on asteroidal surfaces predict that these two objects alone should produce about one percent of all meteorite falls. Iron meteorites derived from these near-earth asteroids should have low cosmic-ray exposure ages.

Asteroid families from cratering: Detection and models

Science.gov (United States)

Milani, A.; Cellino, A.; Knežević, Z.; Novaković, B.; Spoto, F.; Paolicchi, P.

2014-07-01

A new asteroid families classification, more efficient in the inclusion of smaller family members, shows how relevant the cratering impacts are on large asteroids. These do not disrupt the target, but just form families with the ejecta from large craters. Of the 12 largest asteroids, 8 have cratering families: number (2), (4), (5), (10), (87), (15), (3), and (31). At least another 7 cratering families can be identified. Of the cratering families identified so far, 7 have >1000 members. This imposes a remarkable change from the focus on fragmentation families of previous classifications. Such a large dataset of asteroids believed to be crater ejecta opens a new challenge: to model the crater and family forming event(s) generating them. The first problem is to identify which cratering families, found by the similarity of proper elements, can be formed at once, with a single collision. We have identified as a likely outcome of multiple collisions the families of (4), (10), (15), and (20). Of the ejecta generated by cratering, only a fraction reaches the escape velocity from the surviving parent body. The distribution of velocities at infinity, giving to the resulting family an initial position and shape in the proper elements space, is highly asymmetric with respect to the parent body. This shape is deformed by the Yarkovsky effect and by the interaction with resonances. All the largest asteroids have been subjected to large cratering events, thus the lack of a family needs to be interpreted. The most interesting case is (1) Ceres, which is not the parent body of the nearby family of (93). Two possible interpretations of the low family forming efficiency are based on either the composition of Ceres with a significant fraction of ice, protected by a thin crust, or with the larger escape velocity of ~500 m/s.

Asteroid Observations with NCSFCT’s AZT-8 Telescope

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kozhukhov, O.M.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The asteroid observations of the small Solar System bodies were carried out with the AZT-8 telescope (D=0.7 m, f/4 of the National Center of Space Facilities Control and Testing (NCSFCT during 2010-2013. The telescope is located near Yevpatoria, the observatory code according IAU is B17. The observational program included perturbed main belt asteroids and NEO’s for the GAIA FUN-SSO Company. The MPC database contains more than 4500 asteroids positions and magnitudes obtained during this period at AZT-8 telescope. The article presents analysis of the positional accuracy of B17 observations obtained from the comparison with the JPL HORIZONS ephemeris, and data from AstDyS-2 and NEODyS-2 web services.

OBSERVED ASTEROID SURFACE AREA IN THE THERMAL INFRARED

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Nugent, C. R. [Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Mainzer, A.; Masiero, J.; Bauer, J.; Kramer, E.; Sonnett, S. [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Wright, E. L. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States); Grav, T. [Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ (United States)

2017-02-01

The rapid accumulation of thermal infrared observations and shape models of asteroids has led to increased interest in thermophysical modeling. Most of these infrared observations are unresolved. We consider what fraction of an asteroid’s surface area contributes the bulk of the emitted thermal flux for two model asteroids of different shapes over a range of thermal parameters. The resulting observed surface in the infrared is generally more fragmented than the area observed in visible wavelengths, indicating high sensitivity to shape. For objects with low values of the thermal parameter, small fractions of the surface contribute the majority of thermally emitted flux. Calculating observed areas could enable the production of spatially resolved thermal inertia maps from non-resolved observations of asteroids.