A&A 508, 479–489 (2009) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/200810979 & c ESO 2009 Astrophysics The list of asteroids perturbing the Mars orbit to be seen during future space missions S. Mouret1,2,J.L.Simon2,F.Mignard3, and D. Hestroffer2 1 Lohrmann Observatory, Dresden Technical University, Institute for Planetary Geodesy, 01062 Dresden, Germany e-mail:
[email protected] 2 IMCCE, UMR CNRS 8028, Paris observatory, 77 Av. Denfert-Rochereau, 75014 Paris, France e-mail: [simon;hestroffer]@imcce.fr 3 OCA/Cassiopée, UMR CNRS 6062, Observatory of the Côte d’Azur, Le Mont Gros, BP 4229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France e-mail:
[email protected] Received 17 September 2008 / Accepted 6 July 2009 ABSTRACT Context. Over the last decade, the positional observations of Mars have reached such an accuracy that the uncertainty of the asteroid masses has become the main cause of uncertainty in its ephemeris. Currently, only about 36 masses are estimated by direct measure- ments with a formal accuracy better than 10%. However, the true errors are probably larger due to unaccounted systematic effects. Thus, asteroid masses are still a limitation in the accurate modeling of the perturbations on Mars. Nevertheless, two future space missions, Gaia and Dawn, could improve the situation by combining their results. Aims. The main objective of this paper is to identify and provide a list of major perturbers of Mars which could bring significant disturbances over the next 50 years, having in perspective the expected contribution of Gaia to asteroid mass determination. It will also point out the asteroids whose mass only could be improved from ground-based observations – by direct measurements or size and shape derivation.