There is need for lower cost, more frequent planetary science missions to compliment the 'once a decade' large multidisciplinary missions. The Solar System Exploration Division of NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications has initiated a program of planetary missions using small spacecraft. This program is called Discovery. Conceptual designs of small spacecraft (100 to 500 kg) for potential Discovery missions to near Earth asteroids are summarized. Another class of spacecraft that could be used for Discovery missions are called microspacecraft. Microspacecraft would be compatible with small launch vehicles such as Pegasus. The term 'microspacecraft' is used here for spacecraft concepts whose mass is about 10 kg. A study of a microspacecraft for a mission to near Earth asteroids is also summarized.


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    Title :

    Small spacecraft for planetary exploration


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    1993-01-01


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




    Small spacecraft for planetary exploration

    Jones, R. M. / Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales / European Space Agency | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1993





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