Increasing Access and Capabilities of Cubesats for Investigation of Earth Trojan Asteroids

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Increasing Access and Capabilities of Cubesats for Investigation of Earth Trojan Asteroids Increasing Access and Capabilities of CubeSats for Investigation of Earth Trojan Asteroids Paul J Sturmer A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2020 Reading Committee: Robert Winglee, Chair Marcel den Nijs Paul Wiggins Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Physics © Copyright 2020 Paul J Sturmer University of Washington Abstract Increasing Access and Capabilities of CubeSats for Investigation of Earth Trojan Asteroids Paul J Sturmer Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Robert Winglee Earth and Space Sciences This thesis develops the requirements of a low-cost spacecraft mission to the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L4 and L5 to search for Earth Trojan asteroids, and develops and demonstrates a specialized communication system needed to facilitate such a mission. Asteroids serve as time capsules into the historical past of our solar system, and have been critical components to our understanding of the formation and evolution of our solar system. A subset of Earth co-orbital asteroids, Earth Trojans, being close to our home can help us understand things like the conditions present during Earth’s initial formation or the Moon-Earth formation impact theory. Considering there is only one identified Earth Trojan asteroid, 2010 TK7, and the fact that numerical analysis and additional searches support a population of at least one hundred Trojans, a dedicated mission is well warranted. With the Earth Trojan asteroid regions particularly difficult to view when using Earth-based telescopes, an alternative approach is described herein: send a small low-cost spacecraft, called a CubeSat, directly to these regions for in-situ imaging. CubeSats present a paradigm shift in spacecraft development and are beginning to offer a new low-cost and highly accessible regime to Earth and space science. CubeSats are small, typically 1-10L and 1-10kg, and leverage the recent miniaturization of smartphones and their related technologies. The result is that in the past 10 years CubeSats have proven themselves to be invaluable for carrying out Earth-based science missions at a fraction of the cost using traditional methods. And more recently CubeSats have begun to leave Earth orbit, such as providing an auxiliary communication relay role on the latest NASA Mars mission. With ever increasing fiscal pressures limiting the development of planetary probes, developments herein lay the groundwork for an Earth Trojan prospecting mission costing less than $500,000. This mission is facilitated by the developments of a compact communication system described in this thesis that includes: (1) low-cost application of high-gain reflectarray antenna technology to the CubeSat form factor, and (2) low-cost and low-risk design technique development of radio frequency circuitry needed to interface with the antenna. Furthermore, development of a CubeSat demonstrator mission was undertaken, called the HuskySat-1, providing proof of concept implementations of these technologies as well as additional technological innovations required to support a deep space mission to the Earth Trojans. The HuskySat-1 successfully deployed into a low-Earth orbit on January 31, 2020 with operational success. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1. Sun-Earth Trojans ......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Solar System Formation ........................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Asteroids ............................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Trojans .................................................................................................................................. 9 1.3.1 Lagrange Points L4 and L5 ............................................................................................ 9 1.3.2 Earth Trojans ................................................................................................................ 11 1.3.3 Previous Searches ........................................................................................................ 13 1.4 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 2. CubeSats: An Upcoming Low-Cost Deep Space Probe.............................................. 19 2.1 History ................................................................................................................................ 19 2.2 Beyond Low-Earth Orbit Launches .................................................................................... 27 2.3 Previous Deep Space Applications ..................................................................................... 29 2.4 Limitations for Investigation of Earth Trojan Asteroids .................................................... 32 2.4.1 Communication System Limitations ............................................................................ 33 Chapter 3. Deep Space CubeSat Communication Systems .......................................................... 37 3.1 Reflectarray ......................................................................................................................... 37 3.1.1 Competing Technologies ............................................................................................. 37 3.1.2 Reflectarray Fundamentals .......................................................................................... 40 3.1.3 Space Applications ....................................................................................................... 45 3.1.4 Element Characterization ............................................................................................. 46 3.1.5 Feed Antenna ............................................................................................................... 50 3.1.6 Array Design and Implementation ............................................................................... 57 3.2 RF Front End ...................................................................................................................... 62 3.2.1 Initial Mixing Architecture .......................................................................................... 63 3.2.2 Final Architecture ........................................................................................................ 65 3.2.3 Innovations to Technology Access .............................................................................. 70 3.2 COM2: A Prototype Deep Space Communication System ................................................ 75 Chapter 4. Sun-Earth Trojan Explorer Mission ............................................................................ 80 4.1: Mission Overview .............................................................................................................. 80 4.2: Imaging Requirements ....................................................................................................... 85 4.2.1 Upper Bound from Null Result .................................................................................... 85 4.2.2 Recovery Rate .............................................................................................................. 87 4.2.3 Coverage ...................................................................................................................... 88 4.2.4 Comparable Imaging System ....................................................................................... 88 4.2.5 Exposure Time ............................................................................................................. 89 4.2.6 Field-of-View ............................................................................................................... 91 4.2.7 Spatial Geometry ......................................................................................................... 92 4.2.8 Pixel Smearing ............................................................................................................. 93 4.3: Propulsion Requirements ................................................................................................... 95 4.3.1: Initial Condition .......................................................................................................... 95 4.3.2: ΔV from Specific Energy ............................................................................................ 99 4.3.3: ΔV from Hohmann Transfer ..................................................................................... 101 4.4: Communication Requirements ........................................................................................ 105 4.4.1: Data Rate ................................................................................................................... 106 4.4.2: Link Budget .............................................................................................................. 107 4.4.3: Increasing Capability ................................................................................................ 111 4.4.4: Design Solution ......................................................................................................... 113 Chapter 5. HuskySat-1 ................................................................................................................ 120 5.1 Conception and Program Development ...........................................................................
Recommended publications
  • Phobos, Deimos: Formation and Evolution Alex Soumbatov-Gur
    Phobos, Deimos: Formation and Evolution Alex Soumbatov-Gur To cite this version: Alex Soumbatov-Gur. Phobos, Deimos: Formation and Evolution. [Research Report] Karpov institute of physical chemistry. 2019. hal-02147461 HAL Id: hal-02147461 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02147461 Submitted on 4 Jun 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Phobos, Deimos: Formation and Evolution Alex Soumbatov-Gur The moons are confirmed to be ejected parts of Mars’ crust. After explosive throwing out as cone-like rocks they plastically evolved with density decays and materials transformations. Their expansion evolutions were accompanied by global ruptures and small scale rock ejections with concurrent crater formations. The scenario reconciles orbital and physical parameters of the moons. It coherently explains dozens of their properties including spectra, appearances, size differences, crater locations, fracture symmetries, orbits, evolution trends, geologic activity, Phobos’ grooves, mechanism of their origin, etc. The ejective approach is also discussed in the context of observational data on near-Earth asteroids, main belt asteroids Steins, Vesta, and Mars. The approach incorporates known fission mechanism of formation of miniature asteroids, logically accounts for its outliers, and naturally explains formations of small celestial bodies of various sizes.
    [Show full text]
  • U.S. Human Space Flight Safety Record As of July 20, 2021
    U.S. Human Space Flight Safety Record (As of 20 July 2021) Launch Type Total # of Total # People Total # of Total # of People on Died or Human Space Catastrophic Space Flight Seriously Flights Failures6 Injured3 Orbital (Total) 9271 17 1664 3 Suborbital 2332 3 2135 2 (Total) Total 1160 20 379 5 § 460.45(c) An operator must inform each space flight participant of the safety record of all launch or reentry vehicles that have carried one or more persons on board, including both U.S. government and private sector vehicles. This information must include— (1) The total number of people who have been on a suborbital or orbital space flight and the total number of people who have died or been seriously injured on these flights; and (2) The total number of launches and reentries conducted with people on board and the number of catastrophic failures of those launches and reentries. Federal Aviation Administration AST Commercial Space Transportation Footnotes 1. People on orbital space flights include Mercury (Atlas) (4), Gemini (20), Apollo (36), Skylab (9), Space Shuttle (852), and Crew Dragon (6) a. Occupants are counted even if they flew on only the launch or reentry portion. The Space Shuttle launched 817 humans and picked up 35 humans from MIR and the International Space Station. b. Occupants are counted once reentry is complete. 2. People on suborbital space flights include X-15 (169), M2 (24), Mercury (Redstone) (2), SpaceShipOne (5), SpaceShipTwo (29), and New Shepard System (4) a. Only occupants on the rocket-powered space bound vehicles are counted per safety record criterion #11.
    [Show full text]
  • Space Policy Directive 1 New Shepard Flies Again 5
    BUSINESS | POLITICS | PERSPECTIVE DECEMBER 18, 2017 INSIDE ■ Space Policy Directive 1 ■ New Shepard fl ies again ■ 5 bold predictions for 2018 VISIT SPACENEWS.COM FOR THE LATEST IN SPACE NEWS INNOVATION THROUGH INSIGNT CONTENTS 12.18.17 DEPARTMENTS 3 QUICK TAKES 6 NEWS Blue Origin’s New Shepard flies again Trump establishes lunar landing goal 22 COMMENTARY John Casani An argument for space fission reactors 24 ON NATIONAL SECURITY Clouds of uncertainty over miltary space programs 26 COMMENTARY Rep. Brian Babin and Rep. Ami Ber We agree, Mr. President,. America should FEATURE return to the moon 27 COMMENTARY Rebecca Cowen- 9 Hirsch We honor the 10 Paving a clear “Path” to winners of the first interoperable SATCOM annual SpaceNews awards. 32 FOUST FORWARD Third time’s the charm? SpaceNews will not publish an issue Jan. 1. Our next issue will be Jan. 15. Visit SpaceNews.com, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our newsletters at SpaceNews.com/newsletters. ON THE COVER: SPACENEWS ILLUSTRATION THIS PAGE: SPACENEWS ILLUSTRATION FOLLOW US @SpaceNews_Inc Fb.com/SpaceNewslnc youtube.com/user/SpaceNewsInc linkedin.com/company/spacenews SPACENEWS.COM | 1 VOLUME 28 | ISSUE 25 | $4.95 $7.50 NONU.S. CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENTS ADVERTISING SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Felix H. Magowan EDITORINCHIEF SILICON VALLEY BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR TOLL FREE IN U.S. [email protected] Brian Berger Debra Werner Paige McCullough Tel: +1-866-429-2199 Tel: +1-303-443-4360 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Fax: +1-845-267-3478 +1-571-356-9624 Tel: +1-571-278-4090 CEO LONDON OUTSIDE U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Astronomy News KW RASC FRIDAY JANUARY 8 2021
    Astronomy News KW RASC FRIDAY JANUARY 8 2021 JIM FAIRLES What to expect for spaceflight and astronomy in 2021 https://astronomy.com/news/2021/01/what-to-expect-for- spaceflight-and-astronomy-in-2021 By Corey S. Powell | Published: Monday, January 4, 2021 Whatever craziness may be happening on Earth, the coming year promises to be a spectacular one across the solar system. 2020 - It was the worst of times, it was the best of times. First landing on the lunar farside, two impressive successes in gathering samples from asteroids, the first new pieces of the Moon brought home in 44 years, close-up explorations of the Sun, and major advances in low-cost reusable rockets. First Visit to Jupiter's Trojan Asteroids First Visit to Jupiter's Trojan Asteroids In October, NASA is set to launch the Lucy spacecraft. Over its 12-year primary mission, Lucy will visit eight different asteroids. One target lies in the asteroid belt. The other seven are so-called Trojan asteroids that share an orbit with Jupiter, trapped in points of stability 60 degrees ahead of or behind the planet as it goes around the sun. These objects have been trapped in their locations for billions of years, probably since the time of the formation of the solar system. They contain preserved samples of water-rich and carbon-rich material in the outer solar system; some of that material formed Jupiter, while other bits moved inward to contribute to Earth's life-sustaining composition. As a whimsical aside: When meteorites strike carbon-rich asteroids, they create tiny carbon crystals.
    [Show full text]
  • An Assessment of Aerocapture and Applications to Future Missions
    Post-Exit Atmospheric Flight Cruise Approach An Assessment of Aerocapture and Applications to Future Missions February 13, 2016 National Aeronautics and Space Administration An Assessment of Aerocapture Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California and Applications to Future Missions Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology for Planetary Science Division Science Mission Directorate NASA Work Performed under the Planetary Science Program Support Task ©2016. All rights reserved. D-97058 February 13, 2016 Authors Thomas R. Spilker, Independent Consultant Mark Hofstadter Chester S. Borden, JPL/Caltech Jessie M. Kawata Mark Adler, JPL/Caltech Damon Landau Michelle M. Munk, LaRC Daniel T. Lyons Richard W. Powell, LaRC Kim R. Reh Robert D. Braun, GIT Randii R. Wessen Patricia M. Beauchamp, JPL/Caltech NASA Ames Research Center James A. Cutts, JPL/Caltech Parul Agrawal Paul F. Wercinski, ARC Helen H. Hwang and the A-Team Paul F. Wercinski NASA Langley Research Center F. McNeil Cheatwood A-Team Study Participants Jeffrey A. Herath Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech Michelle M. Munk Mark Adler Richard W. Powell Nitin Arora Johnson Space Center Patricia M. Beauchamp Ronald R. Sostaric Chester S. Borden Independent Consultant James A. Cutts Thomas R. Spilker Gregory L. Davis Georgia Institute of Technology John O. Elliott Prof. Robert D. Braun – External Reviewer Jefferey L. Hall Engineering and Science Directorate JPL D-97058 Foreword Aerocapture has been proposed for several missions over the last couple of decades, and the technologies have matured over time. This study was initiated because the NASA Planetary Science Division (PSD) had not revisited Aerocapture technologies for about a decade and with the upcoming study to send a mission to Uranus/Neptune initiated by the PSD we needed to determine the status of the technologies and assess their readiness for such a mission.
    [Show full text]
  • (121514) 1999 UJ7: a Primitive, Slow-Rotating Martian Trojan G
    A&A 618, A178 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201732466 Astronomy & © ESO 2018 Astrophysics ? (121514) 1999 UJ7: A primitive, slow-rotating Martian Trojan G. Borisov1,2, A. A. Christou1, F. Colas3, S. Bagnulo1, A. Cellino4, and A. Dell’Oro5 1 Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, Northern Ireland, UK e-mail: [email protected] 2 Institute of Astronomy and NAO, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 72, Tsarigradsko Chaussée Blvd., 1784 Sofia, Bulgaria 3 IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, UPMC, CNRS UMR8028, 77 Av. Denfert-Rochereau, 75014 Paris, France 4 INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, via Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese (TO), Italy 5 INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi 5, 50125, Firenze, Italy Received 15 December 2017 / Accepted 7 August 2018 ABSTRACT Aims. The goal of this investigation is to determine the origin and surface composition of the asteroid (121514) 1999 UJ7, the only currently known L4 Martian Trojan asteroid. Methods. We have obtained visible reflectance spectra and photometry of 1999 UJ7 and compared the spectroscopic results with the spectra of a number of taxonomic classes and subclasses. A light curve was obtained and analysed to determine the asteroid spin state. Results. The visible spectrum of 1999 UJ7 exhibits a negative slope in the blue region and the presence of a wide and deep absorption feature centred around ∼0.65 µm. The overall morphology of the spectrum seems to suggest a C-complex taxonomy. The photometric behaviour is fairly complex. The light curve shows a primary period of 1.936 d, but this is derived using only a subset of the photometric data.
    [Show full text]
  • Origin and Evolution of Trojan Asteroids 725
    Marzari et al.: Origin and Evolution of Trojan Asteroids 725 Origin and Evolution of Trojan Asteroids F. Marzari University of Padova, Italy H. Scholl Observatoire de Nice, France C. Murray University of London, England C. Lagerkvist Uppsala Astronomical Observatory, Sweden The regions around the L4 and L5 Lagrangian points of Jupiter are populated by two large swarms of asteroids called the Trojans. They may be as numerous as the main-belt asteroids and their dynamics is peculiar, involving a 1:1 resonance with Jupiter. Their origin probably dates back to the formation of Jupiter: the Trojan precursors were planetesimals orbiting close to the growing planet. Different mechanisms, including the mass growth of Jupiter, collisional diffusion, and gas drag friction, contributed to the capture of planetesimals in stable Trojan orbits before the final dispersal. The subsequent evolution of Trojan asteroids is the outcome of the joint action of different physical processes involving dynamical diffusion and excitation and collisional evolution. As a result, the present population is possibly different in both orbital and size distribution from the primordial one. No other significant population of Trojan aster- oids have been found so far around other planets, apart from six Trojans of Mars, whose origin and evolution are probably very different from the Trojans of Jupiter. 1. INTRODUCTION originate from the collisional disruption and subsequent reaccumulation of larger primordial bodies. As of May 2001, about 1000 asteroids had been classi- A basic understanding of why asteroids can cluster in fied as Jupiter Trojans (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/ the orbit of Jupiter was developed more than a century lists/JupiterTrojans.html), some of which had only been ob- before the first Trojan asteroid was discovered.
    [Show full text]
  • Ice& Stone 2020
    Ice & Stone 2020 WEEK 51: DECEMBER 13-19 Presented by The Earthrise Institute # 51 Authored by Alan Hale COMET OF THE WEEK: The Great Comet of 1680 Perihelion: 1680 December 18.49, q = 0.006 AU The Great Comet of 1680 over Rotterdam in The Netherlands, during late December 1680 as painted by the Dutch artist Lieve Verschuier. This particular comet was undoubtedly one of the brightest comets of the 17th Century, but it is also one of the most important comets in history from a scientific perspective, and perhaps even from the perspective of overall human history. While there were certainly plenty of superstitions attached to the comet’s appearance, the scientific investigations made of it were among the beginnings of the era in European history we now call The Enlightenment, and indeed, in a sense the Great Comet of 1680 can perhaps be considered as one of the sparks of that era. The significance began with the comet’s discovery, which was made on the morning of November 14, 1680, by a German astronomer residing in Coburg, Gottfried Kirch – the first comet ever to be discovered by means of a telescope. It was already around 4th magnitude at that time, and located near the star Regulus in the constellation Leo; from that point it traveled eastward and brightened rapidly, being closest to Earth (0.42 AU) on November 30. By that time it was a conspicuous naked-eye object with a tail 20 to 30 degrees long, and it remained visible for another week before disappearing into morning twilight.
    [Show full text]
  • PROJECT PENGUIN Robotic Lunar Crater Resource Prospecting VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE & STATE UNIVERSITY Kevin T
    PROJECT PENGUIN Robotic Lunar Crater Resource Prospecting VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE & STATE UNIVERSITY Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace & Ocean Engineering TEAM LEAD Allison Quinn STUDENT MEMBERS Ethan LeBoeuf Brian McLemore Peter Bradley Smith Amanda Swanson Michael Valosin III Vidya Vishwanathan FACULTY SUPERVISOR AIAA 2018 Undergraduate Spacecraft Design Dr. Kevin Shinpaugh Competition Submission i AIAA Member Numbers and Signatures Ethan LeBoeuf Brian McLemore Member Number: 918782 Member Number: 908372 Allison Quinn Peter Bradley Smith Member Number: 920552 Member Number: 530342 Amanda Swanson Michael Valosin III Member Number: 920793 Member Number: 908465 Vidya Vishwanathan Dr. Kevin Shinpaugh Member Number: 608701 Member Number: 25807 ii Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................................ v List of Tables ................................................................................................................................................................vi List of Symbols ........................................................................................................................................................... vii I. Team Structure ........................................................................................................................................................... 1 II. Introduction ..............................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • 09 September 2019 the Hindu Editorials Update Lqc G% 8 Cts# Mahendra's Youtube Channel
    09 September 2019 The Hindu Editorials Update lqcg% 8 cts # Mahendra's YouTube Channel . The Sentinelese, a negrito tribe that lives on the North Sentinel Island of the Andamans, remains hostile to outsiders. Based on carbon dating by the Anthropological Survey of India, Sentinelese presence was confirmed in the islands to 2,000 years ago. The Govt. of India issued the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956 to declare the traditional areas occupied by the tribes as reserves, and prohibited entry of all persons except those with authorisation. Photographing or filming the tribe members is also an offence. The rules were amended later to enhance penalties. But restricted area permits were relaxed for some islands . Almost nine months after American national John Allen Chau was recently. allegedly killed by the Sentinelese on the North Sentinel Island of Andaman and Nicobar islands, a recent publication by the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) throws more light on the incident and also the ways of one of the most isolated tribes in the world. Titled The Sentinelese of the North Sentinel Island: A reprisal of Tribal Scenario in an Andaman Island in context of Killing of an American Preacher. “On November 14, Chau left Port Blair and reached the island at night. He spent the entire day of November 15 with the Sentinelese and on the night when he met the fishermen who had transported him to the island, he gave them the dairy in which he had recorded his experience of the day,” the director said. The orbiter is safe in the intended orbit around the moon.
    [Show full text]
  • 1950 Da, 205, 269 1979 Va, 230 1991 Ry16, 183 1992 Kd, 61 1992
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-09684-4 — Asteroids Thomas H. Burbine Index More Information 356 Index 1950 DA, 205, 269 single scattering, 142, 143, 144, 145 1979 VA, 230 visual Bond, 7 1991 RY16, 183 visual geometric, 7, 27, 28, 163, 185, 189, 190, 1992 KD, 61 191, 192, 192, 253 1992 QB1, 233, 234 Alexandra, 59 1993 FW, 234 altitude, 49 1994 JR1, 239, 275 Alvarez, Luis, 258 1999 JU3, 61 Alvarez, Walter, 258 1999 RL95, 183 amino acid, 81 1999 RQ36, 61 ammonia, 223, 301 2000 DP107, 274, 304 amoeboid olivine aggregate, 83 2000 GD65, 205 Amor, 251 2001 QR322, 232 Amor group, 251 2003 EH1, 107 Anacostia, 179 2007 PA8, 207 Anand, Viswanathan, 62 2008 TC3, 264, 265 Angelina, 175 2010 JL88, 205 angrite, 87, 101, 110, 126, 168 2010 TK7, 231 Annefrank, 274, 275, 289 2011 QF99, 232 Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET), 71 2012 DA14, 108 Antarctica, 69–71 2012 VP113, 233, 244 aphelion, 30, 251 2013 TX68, 64 APL, 275, 292 2014 AA, 264, 265 Apohele group, 251 2014 RC, 205 Apollo, 179, 180, 251 Apollo group, 230, 251 absorption band, 135–6, 137–40, 145–50, Apollo mission, 129, 262, 299 163, 184 Apophis, 20, 269, 270 acapulcoite/ lodranite, 87, 90, 103, 110, 168, 285 Aquitania, 179 Achilles, 232 Arecibo Observatory, 206 achondrite, 84, 86, 116, 187 Aristarchus, 29 primitive, 84, 86, 103–4, 287 Asporina, 177 Adamcarolla, 62 asteroid chronology function, 262 Adeona family, 198 Asteroid Zoo, 54 Aeternitas, 177 Astraea, 53 Agnia family, 170, 198 Astronautica, 61 AKARI satellite, 192 Aten, 251 alabandite, 76, 101 Aten group, 251 Alauda family, 198 Atira, 251 albedo, 7, 21, 27, 185–6 Atira group, 251 Bond, 7, 8, 9, 28, 189 atmosphere, 1, 3, 8, 43, 66, 68, 265 geometric, 7 A- type, 163, 165, 167, 169, 170, 177–8, 192 356 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-09684-4 — Asteroids Thomas H.
    [Show full text]
  • Template for Manuscripts in Advances in Space Research
    DISCUS - The Deep Interior Scanning CubeSat mission to a rubble pile near-Earth asteroid Patrick Bambach1* Jakob Deller1 Esa Vilenius1 Sampsa Pursiainen2 Mika Takala2 Hans Martin Braun3 Harald Lentz3 Manfred Wittig4 1 Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, 37077 G¨ottingen,Germany 2 Tampere University of Technology, PO Box 527, FI-33101 Tampere, Finland 3 RST Radar Systemtechnik AG, Ebenaustrasse 8, 9413 Oberegg, Switzerland 4 MEW-Aerospace UG, Hameln, Germany * [email protected] Submitted to Advances in Space Research Abstract We have performed an initial stage conceptual design study for the Deep Interior Scanning CubeSat (DIS- CUS), a tandem 6U CubeSat carrying a bistatic radar as the main payload. DISCUS will be operated either as an independent mission or accompanying a larger one. It is designed to determine the internal macro- porosity of a 260{600 m diameter Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) from a few kilometers distance. The main goal will be to achieve a global penetration with a low-frequency signal as well as to analyze the scattering strength for various different penetration depths and measurement positions. Moreover, the measurements will be inverted through a computed radar tomography (CRT) approach. The scientific data provided by DISCUS would bring more knowledge of the internal configuration of rubble pile asteroids and their colli- sional evolution in the Solar System. It would also advance the design of future asteroid deflection concepts. We aim at a single-unit (1U) radar design equipped with a half-wavelength dipole antenna. The radar will utilize a stepped-frequency modulation technique the baseline of which was developed for ESA's technology projects GINGER and PIRA.
    [Show full text]