The Wirtanen Analysis and Surface Probe: Concept for a New Frontiers Comet Surface Sample Return Mission

Details The Wirtanen Analysis and Surface Probe: Concept for a New Frontiers Comet Surface Sample Return Mission The Wirtanen Analysis and Surface Probe: Concept for a New Frontiers Comet Surface Sample Return Mission

Oct 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.3402s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #34.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.478

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

The material contained within the surfaces of comets holds keys that unlock fundamental questions regarding the formation of the Solar System and life on Earth. As participants in NASA's 2007 Planetary Science Summer School at JPL, we designed for a New Frontiers (NF) class mission to return a surface sample from a comet nucleus, a goal established as a priority by NASA's 2003 NF Announcement of Opportunity (AO) and expected again in the 3rd NF AO targeting a 2015 launch opportunity. Comets contain primordial material from the formation of the Solar System (Morbidelli & Brown, 2004), as well as many volatile and organic compounds (Meech & Svoren, 2004) which are inconsistent with models of Solar System accretionary processes (Irvine & Lunine, 2004). Laboratory analysis of the composition of a cometary sample addresses goals in NASA's 2006 Solar System Exploration Roadmap and the NRC Decadal Survey. Our mission architecture, chosen to optimize science and sample return capabilities, consists of a combined orbiter/lander that engages in a sixty-day orbit. Two medium-field cameras map the surface and obtain stereographic images to characterize comet nucleus morphology and identify landing sites. After orbiting, the craft lands, anchors itself to the surface, obtains a sample using a scoop-equipped robotic arm, and encapsulates the sample in a Stardust-type Earth Entry Vehicle (EEV). Subsequent to sample collection, an Earth Return Vehicle (ERV) - containing only the necessary subsystems - separates from the lander and sets a trajectory back to Earth. The EEV is ejected from the ERV on final Earth approach, to deliver its 0.5 kg comet surface sample back to Earth. In this poster we describe further our mission design to characterize and sample the surface of a comet and return to Earth, thus obtaining a greater understanding of the evolution of the Solar System.

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