Comet Interceptor
Mission type | Comet flyby |
---|---|
Operator | ESA / JAXA |
Website | www |
Mission duration | ≈ 5 years |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Comet Interceptor |
Launch mass | Approx. 850 kg (1,870 lb).[1] |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 2029 (planned)[2] |
Rocket | Ariane 62 |
Launch site | Kourou ELA-4 |
Contractor | Arianespace |
Flyby of a long-period comet yet to be selected | |
|
The Comet Interceptor is a robotic spacecraft mission led by the
The
Overview
The Comet Interceptor mission is unique in that it is designed to encounter an as-yet unknown target, having to wait between 2 and 3 years for a target it can reach with a reasonable change in velocity (delta-v) within a total mission length of approximately 5 years.[4][5] The baseline design is solar electric propulsion.[4]
Finding a suitable comet to fly by will rely on ground-based observational surveys such as Pan-STARRS, ATLAS, or the future Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).[1] In the case that no long-period comet can be intercepted in time, a backup short period comet (baseline: 73P/Schwassmann–Wachmann) can be studied.[4] There is also the potential of intercepting an interstellar object passing through the Solar System, if the velocity and direction permit.[4][6][7]
The mission's primary science goal is stated as "to characterise, a dynamically-new comet, including its surface composition, shape, structure, and the composition of its gas
Comet Interceptor is being developed as ESA's first Fast class (F-class) of the
Secondary spacecraft
A few weeks before the comet flyby, the main spacecraft (spacecraft A) will deploy two small probes (B1 and B2) to venture even closer to the target, carrying complementary instrument payloads and to sample the
Spacecraft element | Agency | Science payload |
---|---|---|
A | ESA | CoCa: Visible/near-infrared imager MIRMIS: NIR and Thermal IR spectral imagers, and MIR spectrometer DFP: Dust, Fields and Plasma |
B1 | JAXA | HI: Lyman-alpha Hydrogen imager PS: Plasma Suite WAC: wide angle camera |
B2 | ESA | OPIC: Optical Imager for Comets (Vis/IR) MANIaC: Mass Analyzer for Neutrals and Ions at Comets ( mass spectrometer )EnVisS: Entire Visible Sky coma mapper DFP: Dust, Fields and Plasma |
See also
- ARIEL – Launching on the same rocket
References
- ^ a b c Jones, Geraint; Snodgrass, Colin (29 January 2019). Comet Interceptor: A proposed ESA mission to an ancient world (PDF). 20th Meeting of the NASA Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG). Houston, TX: Lunar and Planetary Institute. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ ESA. 15 December 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- JPL. NASA. 29 October 2008. Archived from the originalon 30 April 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ ESA. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ESA. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
- ^ O'Callaghan, Jonathan (24 June 2019). "European Comet Interceptor Could Visit an Interstellar Object". Scientific American. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ Gough, Evan (29 June 2019). "Meet the Comet Interceptor. It'll Wait Patiently In Space for a Comet, Then Pounce On It". Universe Today. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ESA. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
- ^ Lakdawalla, Emily (21 June 2019). "ESA to Launch Comet Interceptor Mission in 2028". The Planetary Society. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ Rabie, Passant (21 June 2019). "A Triple-Threat 'Comet Interceptor' Could Explore an Undiscovered Space Object". Space.com. Retrieved 15 December 2022.