Session
Technical Session VI: Next on the Pad
Abstract
Deep Space Industries (DSI) is developing a microspacecraft asteroid exploration mission named Prospector-1. The goal of this mission is prospecting for resources, particularly water, extractable from the surface of a volatiles-rich target asteroid. This mission objective implies not just surveying the water content of the surface, but penetrating to subsurface depths as well. In addition to water reconnaissance, Prospector-1 will also investigate the mineralogy and geotechnical characteristics of the asteroid using a proprietary instrument suite that is intended to be used on the asteroid surface.
In addition to representing what will potentially be the first private interplanetary mission yet undertaken, it is also expected that Prospector-1 will be the smallest and least expensive asteroid mission to date. The mission involves dispatching a small microspacecraft using all-chemical propulsion to an asteroid, followed by the use of water electrothermal propulsion for cruise, rendezvous, and proximity operations. A multi-week remote sensing campaign will map the surface and subsurface in visible and mid-wave infrared bands, in parallel with the generation of a water map of the asteroid at near-subsurface levels. Finally, the spacecraft will attempt to land on the asteroid surface to assess geotechnical characteristics of potential resource extraction sites, as well as to assert a presence and establish the first commercial base on a space object. This mission is being developed with an aggressive cost-cap in the tens of millions of USD and a schedule in single-digit years.
Prospector-1: The First Commercial Small Spacecraft Mission to an Asteroid
Deep Space Industries (DSI) is developing a microspacecraft asteroid exploration mission named Prospector-1. The goal of this mission is prospecting for resources, particularly water, extractable from the surface of a volatiles-rich target asteroid. This mission objective implies not just surveying the water content of the surface, but penetrating to subsurface depths as well. In addition to water reconnaissance, Prospector-1 will also investigate the mineralogy and geotechnical characteristics of the asteroid using a proprietary instrument suite that is intended to be used on the asteroid surface.
In addition to representing what will potentially be the first private interplanetary mission yet undertaken, it is also expected that Prospector-1 will be the smallest and least expensive asteroid mission to date. The mission involves dispatching a small microspacecraft using all-chemical propulsion to an asteroid, followed by the use of water electrothermal propulsion for cruise, rendezvous, and proximity operations. A multi-week remote sensing campaign will map the surface and subsurface in visible and mid-wave infrared bands, in parallel with the generation of a water map of the asteroid at near-subsurface levels. Finally, the spacecraft will attempt to land on the asteroid surface to assess geotechnical characteristics of potential resource extraction sites, as well as to assert a presence and establish the first commercial base on a space object. This mission is being developed with an aggressive cost-cap in the tens of millions of USD and a schedule in single-digit years.
