ANTIMATTER-BASED PROPULSION AND POWER HAS EMERGED AS A LEADING TECHNOLOGY CAPABLE OF ENABLING SCIENCE MISSIONS TO THE EXOPLANET PROXIMA B. IN STARK CONTRAST TO OTHER MISSION PROPOSALS INVOLVING BEAMED ENERGY THIS MISSION ASSUMES PROMPT AND CONTINUOUS SCIENCE RETURN DURING THE ENTIRE VOYAGE DECELERATION AT PROXIMA CENTAURI AND DECADES-LONG EXPLORATION AND SCIENTIFIC DATA RETURN. SCIENTIFIC DATA FROM KUIPER BELT AND OORT CLOUD OBJECT WEEKLY FLYBYS ARE ANTICIPATED STARTING WITHIN A FEW YEARS OF LAUNCH. THE TITLE OF THIS PROPOSAL DOES NOT DESCRIBE THE FOCUS OF THE TECHNICAL WORK PLAN RATHER SUMMARIZES AN ARCHITECTURE WHEREIN A TEN KILOGRAM SCALE SPACECRAFT WITH ROBUST PROPULSION AND POWER CAPABILITIES PERFORMS AN EQUALLY ROBUST AND PROMPT SCIENCE MISSION. AS A RESULT THE MAJORITY OF THIS PROPOSED PHASE I WORK IS DEDICATED TO TASKS THAT STRATEGICALLY SUPPORT THE SCIENTIFIC AND MISSION RATIONALE OF THE PROPOSED ARCHITECTURE. IN THIS MISSION ARCHITECTURE BOTH THE FIRST AND SECOND STAGES ARE EQUIPPED WITH APPROXIMATELY ONE THOUSAND GRAM-SCALE CHIPCRAFT SIMILAR TO THOSE PROPOSED BY BREAKTHROUGH STARSHOT. THESE CHIPCRAFT ARE TECHNICALLY MUCH MORE MODEST IN EVERY ASPECT SINCE THEY ONLY OPERATE FOR WEEKS AFTER SEPARATION FROM EITHER STAGE. THESE CHIPCRAFT ARE ACCELERATED AWAY FROM THEIR ORIGINATING STAGES IN THE DIRECTION TRANSVERSE TO THE MISSION TRAJECTORY. THE CHIPCRAFT THEN PERFORM CLOSE FLYBYS OF OBJECTS ON THE TIME SCALE OF ONE PER WEEK. ESPECIALLY IN THE CASE OF THE OORT CLOUD A POWERFUL LIDAR SYSTEM IS NEEDED TO ILLUMINATE IDENTIFY AND TRACK FLYBY CANDIDATES. THIS LASER WHICH IS PROPOSED TO ALSO BE THE COMMUNICATION LINK BACK TO EARTH IS ADDITIONALLY USED TO ACCELERATE THE CHIPCRAFT AND TO PERIODICALLY POWER (RECHARGE) THEM VIA ONBOARD CHIPCRAFT PHOTOVOLTAICS. THESE CHIPCRAFT ALSO SERVE AS PLANETARY ENTRY PROBES ONCE IN ORBIT AROUND PROXIMA B. IN ADDITION BY JUDICIOUS CHOICE OF WAVELENGTH THE LIDAR SYSTEM PROVIDES TOPOGRAPHICAL IMAGING OF THE PROXIMA B SURFACE EVEN IN THE CASE OF EXTENSIVE CLOUD COVER.$124,997
· FY2020 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration