Near-Earth Asteroid Sample Return: How, When and Why?

Details Near-Earth Asteroid Sample Return: How, When and Why? Near-Earth Asteroid Sample Return: How, When and Why?

Jan 2000

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000neas.work...44s&link_type=abstract

Near-Earth Asteroid Sample Return Workshop, p. 44

Physics

Asteroid Missions, Mission Planning, Return To Earth Space Flight, Sampling, Meteorites, Asteroids, Weathering

Scientific paper

What are the goals of asteroid sample return missions? Four major scientific goals can be identified for sample return missions to near-Earth asteroids. All four goals are critically important for understanding the origin of meteorites and asteroids and for disrupting or diverting asteroids, which may become the main justification for missions to near-Earth objects. These goals are also central to the development of space resources: (1) Understand the nature of near-Earth asteroids by linking meteorite types and asteroid spectral classes; (2) Identify new kinds of primitive materials that are absent in meteorite collections; (3) Elucidation of space weathering processes. ; and (4) Understand the physical nature of chondritic and differentiated asteroids of diverse sizes. Sample returns from selected sites together with density determinations and gravity maps will greatly help us understand how coherent rocks and asteroid fragments, friable materials and pores are distributed in asteroids. It is possible, for example, that most large chondritic asteroids are made of poorly lithified materials and that meteorites are very unrepresentative samples of these asteroids. However, meteorites might be excellent samples of fast-rotating, asteroids <200 m in size, which appear to be monolithic fragments. Understanding meteorite delivery processes and asteroid geology requires such physical characterization. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

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