WE PROPOSE TO EXAMINE THE USE OF SMALL SATELLITES (CUBESATS) AND A UNIQUE MICROSEISMOMETER CONCEPT DEVELOPED AT THE ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY TO UNDERSTAND THE INTERIOR STRUCTURE OF SMALL BODIES (ASTEROIDS AND COMETS). PLANETARY SEISMOLOGY EXPERIMENTS HAVE TYPICALLY BEEN DIFFICULT EXPERIMENT REQUIRING COMPLEX INSTRUMENT AND SPACECRAFT AS THE SEISMOMETER IS A MECHANICAL SYSTEM REQUIRING LEVELING. THE NEW MICROSEISMOMETER IS ORIENTATION INDEPENDENT LOW POWER AND LOW MASS THUS ALLOWING FOR SMALL MISSIONS TO DEPLOY SUCH INSTRUMENTS AND A RANGE OF POSSIBLE TARGET. HERE WE WILL EXAMINE THE POTENTIAL TO VISIT A SMALL BODY DEPLOY THE MICROSEISMOMETER AND DETERMINE A FUNDAMENTAL ASPECT OF SMALL BODIES - THEIR INTERNAL STRUCTURE. THIS WILL ALLOW FOR A DETERMINATION WHETHER THEY REPRESENT RUBBLE PILES OR COHERENT REGOLITH COVER BODIES. IT ALLOWS FOR DISCOVERY / NEW FRONTIERS SCIENCE AT A FRACTION OF THE COST. UNDERSTANDING THE INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF A SMALL BODY IS OF INTEREST TO SCIENCE EXPLORATION AND IMPACT HAZARDS ON THE EARTH. THE CONCEPT IS NEW EXCITING AND THE IDEA OF DOING IT WITH SMALL SPACECRAFT HAS NOT BEEN EXAMINED PREVIOUSLY. THE IMPLEMENTATION REPRESENTS A NOVEL APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING A KEY SCIENCE QUESTION FOR SMALL BODIES - THEIR INTERIOR STRUCTURE - USING A NEW KIND OF INSTRUMENTATION IN THE CONTEXT OF A SINGLE OR MULTIPLE SMALL (CUBSAT-SCALE)SPACECRAFT. THIS IMPLEMENTATION WOULD PRESENT A LOW-RISK LOW-COST HIGH-RETURN OPPORTUNITY.
$78,421FY2015National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
The Johns Hopkins University