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Near-Earth Asteroid Scout
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Near-Earth Asteroid Scout
The Near-Earth Asteroid Scout (NEA Scout) was a mission by NASA to develop a controllable low-cost CubeSat solar sail spacecraft capable of encountering near-Earth asteroids (NEA). NEA Scout was one of ten CubeSats launched into a heliocentric orbit on Artemis 1, the maiden flight of the Space Launch System, on 16 November 2022.
The target for the mission was asteroid 2020 GE, but this could have changed based on launch date or other factors. After deployment, NEA Scout was to perform a series of lunar flybys to achieve optimum departure trajectory before beginning its two-year-long cruise.
No contact with the spacecraft was ever made, and the mission was lost.
The mission was funded by NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) are of interest to science, and as NASA continues to refine its plans to possibly explore these small objects with human explorers, initial reconnaissance with inexpensive robotic precursors is necessary to minimize risks, and inform the required instruments for future reconnaissance missions. The characterization of NEAs that are larger than 20 m (66 ft) in diameter is also of great relevance to plan mitigation strategies for planetary defense.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) jointly developed this mission with support from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC), Langley Research Center (LRC), and NASA Headquarters. The principal investigator (science) was Julie Castillo-Rogez from NASA's JPL. The principal investigator was Les Johnson from NASA MSFC.
The NASA Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout mission was going to demonstrate the capability of an extremely small spacecraft, propelled by a solar sail, to perform reconnaissance of an asteroid at low cost. The goal was to develop a capability that would close knowledge gaps at a near-Earth asteroid in the 1–100 m range. NEAs in the 1–100 m range are poorly characterized due to the challenges that come with detecting, observing, and tracking these for extended periods of time. It has been thought that objects in the 1–100 m size range are fragments of bigger objects. However, it has also been suggested that these objects could actually be rubble piles.
The mission researchers argued that "characterization of NEAs that are larger than 20 m in diameter is also of great relevance to inform mitigation strategies for planetary defense".
The planned target was near-Earth asteroid 2020 GE. The asteroid made a close approach to Earth in September 2023 of around 5.7 million kilometres, which was when NEA Scout was scheduled to make its flyby. The spacecraft would have approached the asteroid at less than a mile distant, and make the slowest flyby of any asteroid by any spacecraft at less than 30 m/s. A 14 megapixel camera, the mission's sole instrument, was going to image the object at very high resolutions of up to 10 cm/pixel.
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Near-Earth Asteroid Scout AI simulator
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Near-Earth Asteroid Scout
The Near-Earth Asteroid Scout (NEA Scout) was a mission by NASA to develop a controllable low-cost CubeSat solar sail spacecraft capable of encountering near-Earth asteroids (NEA). NEA Scout was one of ten CubeSats launched into a heliocentric orbit on Artemis 1, the maiden flight of the Space Launch System, on 16 November 2022.
The target for the mission was asteroid 2020 GE, but this could have changed based on launch date or other factors. After deployment, NEA Scout was to perform a series of lunar flybys to achieve optimum departure trajectory before beginning its two-year-long cruise.
No contact with the spacecraft was ever made, and the mission was lost.
The mission was funded by NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) are of interest to science, and as NASA continues to refine its plans to possibly explore these small objects with human explorers, initial reconnaissance with inexpensive robotic precursors is necessary to minimize risks, and inform the required instruments for future reconnaissance missions. The characterization of NEAs that are larger than 20 m (66 ft) in diameter is also of great relevance to plan mitigation strategies for planetary defense.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) jointly developed this mission with support from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC), Langley Research Center (LRC), and NASA Headquarters. The principal investigator (science) was Julie Castillo-Rogez from NASA's JPL. The principal investigator was Les Johnson from NASA MSFC.
The NASA Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout mission was going to demonstrate the capability of an extremely small spacecraft, propelled by a solar sail, to perform reconnaissance of an asteroid at low cost. The goal was to develop a capability that would close knowledge gaps at a near-Earth asteroid in the 1–100 m range. NEAs in the 1–100 m range are poorly characterized due to the challenges that come with detecting, observing, and tracking these for extended periods of time. It has been thought that objects in the 1–100 m size range are fragments of bigger objects. However, it has also been suggested that these objects could actually be rubble piles.
The mission researchers argued that "characterization of NEAs that are larger than 20 m in diameter is also of great relevance to inform mitigation strategies for planetary defense".
The planned target was near-Earth asteroid 2020 GE. The asteroid made a close approach to Earth in September 2023 of around 5.7 million kilometres, which was when NEA Scout was scheduled to make its flyby. The spacecraft would have approached the asteroid at less than a mile distant, and make the slowest flyby of any asteroid by any spacecraft at less than 30 m/s. A 14 megapixel camera, the mission's sole instrument, was going to image the object at very high resolutions of up to 10 cm/pixel.
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