http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMZO8M26WD_index_0.html
14 July 2004
On 9 July 2004, the Near-Earth Object Mission Advisory Panel recommended
that ESA place a high priority on developing a mission to actually move
an asteroid. The conclusion was based on the panel's consideration of
six near-Earth object mission studies submitted to the Agency in
February 2003.
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Of the six studies, three were space-based observatories for detecting
NEOs and three were rendezvous missions. All addressed the growing
realisation of the threat posed by Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) and
proposed ways of detecting NEOs or discovering more about them from a
close distance.
A panel of six experts, known as the Near-Earth Object Mission Advisory
Panel (NEOMAP) assessed the proposals. Alan Harris, German Aerospace
Centre (DLR), Berlin, and Chairman of NEOMAP, says, "The task has been
very difficult because the goalposts have changed. When the studies were
commissioned, the discovery business was in no way as advanced as it is
now. Today, a number of organisations are building large telescopes on
Earth that promise to find a very large percentage of the NEO population
at even smaller sizes than visible today." =A0
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As a result, the panel decided that ESA should leave detection to
ground-based telescopes for the time being, until the share of the
remaining population not visible from the ground becomes better known.
The need for a space-based observatory will then be re-assessed. The
panel placed its highest priority on rendezvous missions, and in
particular, the Don Quijote mission concept. "If you think about the
chain of events between detecting a hazardous object and doing something
about it, there is one area in which we have no experience at all and
that is in directly interacting with an asteroid, trying to alter its
orbit," explains Harris.
The Don Quijote mission concept will do this by using two spacecraft,
Sancho and Hidalgo. Both are launched at the same time but Sancho takes
a faster route.
When it arrives at the target asteroid it will begin a seven-month
campaign of observation and physical characterisation during which it
will land penetrators and seismometers on the asteroid's surface to
understand its internal structure.
Sancho will then watch as Hidalgo arrives and smashes into the asteroid
at very high speed. This will provide information about the behaviour of
the internal structure of the asteroid during an impact event as well as
excavating some of the interior for Sancho to observe. After the impact,
Sancho and telescopes from Earth will monitor the asteroid to see how
its orbit and rotation have been affected.
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Hidalgo impacts with the asteroid
[picture]
Harris says, "When we do actually find a hazardous asteroid, you could
imagine a Don Quijote-type mission as a precursor to a mitigation
mission. It will tell us how the target responds to an impact and will
help us to develop a much more effective mitigation mission."
On 9 July, the findings were presented to the scientific and industrial
community.
Representatives of other national space agencies were also invited in
the hope that they will be interested in developing a joint mission,
based around this concept.
Andr=E9s Galvez, ESA's Advanced Concepts Team and technical officer for
the NEOMAP report says, "This report gives us a solid foundation to
define programmatic priorities and an implementation strategy, in which
I also hope we are joined by international partners".
With international cooperation, a mission could be launched as early as
2010-2015.
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