![]() Solar sails are a high-performance propulsion system for low-mass and low-volume spacecraft, according to Johnson. Sunlight acts as a constant force, so a tiny spacecraft equipped with a large solar sail can eventually travel many miles per second. For asteroid characterization missions, there’s simply not enough room on a CubeSat for large propulsion systems and the fuel they require.” “The genesis of this project was a question: Can we really use a tiny spacecraft to do deep space missions and produce useful science at a low cost?” said Les Johnson, the mission’s principal technology investigator at Marshall. The sail will provide most of NEA Scout’s propulsion, but small cold-gas thrusters with a limited propellant supply will also assist with maneuvers and orientation. Made from plastic-coated aluminum thinner than a human hair, this lightweight, mirror-like sail will generate thrust by reflecting solar photons – quantum particles of light radiating from the Sun. When released from its dispenser after launch, the spacecraft will use stainless steel alloy booms to unfurl a solar sail that will expand from a small package to a sail about the size of a racquetball court, or 925 square feet (86 square meters). It will also demonstrate solar sail technology for deep space encounters. Learning more about asteroid 2020 GE is only part of NEA Scout’s job. That was the same class of NEA as 2020 GE. 15, 2013, creating a shockwave that broke windows all over the city and injured more than 1,600 people. The Chelyabinsk meteor was caused by a small asteroid about 65 feet (20 meters) in diameter – it exploded over the Russian city on Feb. ![]() “Although large asteroids are of most concern from a planetary defense perspective, objects like 2020 GE are far more common and can pose a hazard to our planet, despite their smaller size,” said Castillo-Rogez. The mission will act as a nimble scout for future human and robotic missions that may utilize asteroid resources – and will gain important planetary defense insights about this class of NEA. NEA Scout will then be deployed from a dispenser attached to the adapter ring that connects the rocket and Orion spacecraft. Using a six-unit CubeSat form factor, it will ride as one of 10 secondary payloads aboard the powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which will launch no earlier than March 2022 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “2020 GE represents a class of asteroid that we currently know very little about.”Ģ020 GE was first observed on March 12, 2020, by the University of Arizona’s Catalina Sky Survey as part of its search for near-Earth objects for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office.ĭeveloped under NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems Division by Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and JPL, NEA Scout is a science and technology demonstration mission that will enhance the agency’s understanding of small NEAs. “Thanks to the discoveries of NEAs by Earth-based observatories, several targets had been identified for NEA Scout, all within the 16-to-100-foot size range,” said Julie Castillo-Rogez, the mission’s principal science investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. ![]() The spacecraft will use its science camera to get a closer look, measuring the object’s size, shape, rotation, and surface properties while looking for any dust and debris that might surround 2020 GE.īecause the camera has a resolution of less than 4 inches (10 centimeters) per pixel, the mission’s science team will be able to determine whether 2020 GE is solid – like a boulder – or if it’s composed of smaller rocks and dust clumped together like some of its larger asteroid cousins, such as asteroid Bennu. Asteroids smaller than 330 feet (100 meters) across have never been explored up close before. The target is 2020 GE, a near-Earth asteroid (NEA) that is less than 60 feet (18 meters) in size. It will get there by unfurling a solar sail to harness solar radiation for propulsion, making this the agency’s first deep space mission of its kind. Launching with the Artemis I uncrewed test flight, NASA’s shoebox-size Near-Earth Asteroid Scout will chase down what will become the smallest asteroid ever to be visited by a spacecraft.
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