The plan to send 50 small spacecraft to tour 300 asteroids

Asteroids have a lot to teach us about the early days of the Solar System, but their nomadic nature makes them hard to study. To observe a wide range of space rocks, a European team is proposing a mission called the Asteroid Touring Nanosat Fleet, which would involve sending 50 tiny spacecraft to visit hundreds of asteroids, before returning to Earth with their data payloads.

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“Returning to earth with their data payloads “

Why?

• Why?

“Since room aboard the spacecraft is scarce, and keeping costs down is a key goal of the mission, the fleet wouldn’t be fitted with high-gain antennas.”

got my next holiday planned, off to Nambia for a month to shoot elephants.

ChrispenEvan said:

got my next holiday planned, off to Nambia for a month to shoot elephants.

or an asteroid. haven’t made up my mind.

furious said:

• Why?

“Since room aboard the spacecraft is scarce, and keeping costs down is a key goal of the mission, the fleet wouldn’t be fitted with high-gain antennas.”

WTF … ROFL …

Scaling up the rocketry for earth return would more than double the mission mass.

dv said:

furious said:

• Why?

“Since room aboard the spacecraft is scarce, and keeping costs down is a key goal of the mission, the fleet wouldn’t be fitted with high-gain antennas.”

WTF … ROFL …

Scaling up the rocketry for earth return would more than double the mission mass.

Don’t they just send their data from space once they are in range?

• Don’t they just send their data from space once they are in range?

that’s what the article says…

furious said:

• Don’t they just send their data from space once they are in range?

that’s what the article says…

Good.. save me from reading it :)

Ian said:

dv said:

furious said:

• Why?

“Since room aboard the spacecraft is scarce, and keeping costs down is a key goal of the mission, the fleet wouldn’t be fitted with high-gain antennas.”

WTF … ROFL …

Scaling up the rocketry for earth return would more than double the mission mass.

Don’t they just send their data from space once they are in range?

Getting them back in range of earth is what I’m talking about. An elliptical orbit will not result in an earth-return without another burn.
The article mentions solar sails, so perhaps they are planning to use that to “tack” so to speak.

OTOH … “new mission, led by the Finnish Meteorological Institute.”

The other mission that FMI scoped up a few years ago was MarsNet, involving dozens of Mars landers, which made a buzz but was never developed.

• The other mission that FMI scoped up a few years ago was MarsNet, involving dozens of Mars landers, which made a buzz but was never developed.

Well, they’re talking about solar sails and whenever anyone talks about solar sails I automatically assume that it is not going to happen anytime soon…

NASA to FMI: “You’re an ideas man…”

dv said:

furious said:

• Why?

“Since room aboard the spacecraft is scarce, and keeping costs down is a key goal of the mission, the fleet wouldn’t be fitted with high-gain antennas.”

WTF … ROFL …

Scaling up the rocketry for earth return would more than double the mission mass.

No it wouldn’t. You set each into a Hohmann transfer orbit, and that means you get free satellite return, in that same way that Apollo 13 got a free return from the Moon.

Mission mass would then be almost exactly the same for a return as for an outward journey. Perhaps you’re forgetting that these are flybys with no attempt at match velocities with the target. Matching velocities with targets would more than double mission mass.

mollwollfumble said:

No it wouldn’t. You set each into a Hohmann transfer orbit, and that means you get free satellite return, in that same way that Apollo 13 got a free return from the Moon.

Nope. The earth is in a different position by the time of the return, so it is not comparable to a free transfer.

One way you could do it is to put it in an orbit that, for instance, has a period of two years or three years exactly so that the earth is in place for the return.