IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - March 2020 - 21
Credit: Image licensed by Ingram Publishing
targets that are reachable within a reasonable time of
flight, < 2 years, including science data return. One month
before reaching the target, the NEA Scout will start the
approach phase using a combination of radio tracking and
optical navigation. The solar sail will provide continuous
low thrust to enable a relatively slow flyby (< 20 m/s)
with a < 50 phase angle to provide lighting conditions
conducive to imaging. Once the flyby is complete, three
months of mission life is dedicated to the onboard processing of the science data and downlink to Earth. If the system is still fully functioning at the conclusion of the
primary mission, an extended mission to another asteroid
may be considered. The NEA Scout mission phases are
shown in Figure 3.
CONTRIBUTION TO EXPLORATION SCIENCE
There are many reasons to visit and characterize NEAs.
They have been considered as possible destinations for
future human exploration and, as such, having an idea of
their surface structure and morphology is essential to
reduce risks for future human visitors. Furthermore, characterizing potentially hazardous objects before they
become a threat may be desirable as part of a comprehen-
Figure 1.
Artist concept of the NEA Scout spacecraft during the asteroid
flyby.
MARCH 2020
sive planetary defense strategy [4]. Finally, some
commercial companies have been considering asteroid
mining that may have an interest in using inexpensive
spacecraft like NEA Scout for asteroid surveys.
The main science goal of the NEA Scout mission is to
close key SKGs at targets on the list of Near-Earth Object
Human Space Flight Accessible Targets Study (NHATS)
[5]. SKGs encompass information on the physical and
dynamic nature of the targets, which might be used for
operational planning and decision making when preparing
for crewed missions. The list of SKGs of interest to
NASA's HEOMD is presented in Figure 4.
A simple imager is sufficient to address a large number of SKGs, which makes that type of science within the
reach of minimal platforms, such as 6U CubeSats. The
camera must be "science grade," which means it must be
designed using components meeting certain quality
requirements, such as a detector with a good quantum efficiency, and implemented to make it resilient against a
number of factors that are expected in deep space environment. For example, temperature extremes, latch-up due to
radiation effects, and lens cleanliness are among a list of
survivability factors.
The SKGs that cannot be addressed with an imager are
the mineralogical composition--it can only be inferred
from the spectral type of the target--and the asteroid
mass. The gravity signal from these targets is
Figure 2.
Stowed configuration of NEA Scout.
IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE
21
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - March 2020
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - March 2020
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