[P-CG18] 宇宙・惑星探査の将来計画および関連する機器開発の展望

[PCG18-10] The Comet Interceptor mission: pre-project activities in 2022-2023

*笠原 慧¹、船瀬 龍^1,2、中島 晋太郎²、吉岡 和夫¹、坂谷 尚哉²、亀田 真吾³、松岡 彩子⁴、村田 直史²、原田 裕己⁴、河北 秀世⁵ (1.東京大学、2.宇宙航空研究開発機構、3.立教大学、4.京都大学、5.京都産業大学)

Comets are pristine small bodies and thus provide key information about the solar system’s evolution. Remote observations by ground observatories have characterized various comets, while in-situ observations by spacecraft have brought much more detailed information on several comets. However, the direct observations by spacecraft fly-by or rendezvous have been limited to the short-period comets, which neared the sun many times in the past and thus lost some of (or even most of) their primitive characteristics. The Comet Interceptor mission, led by ESA, aims at a long-period comet or an interstellar object. JAXA will provide an ultra-small (24 U) daughter spacecraft (probe B1), whose closest approach will be less than 1,000 km, allowing the first-ever multi-spacecraft fly-by observations of a comet. Here we report our recent programmatic progress during 2022-2023, as well as the latest hardware development status.