[P-CG18] Future missions and instrumentation for space and planetary science

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

*Satoshi Kasahara¹, Ryu Funase^1,2, Shintaro Nakajima², Kazuo Yoshioka¹, Naoya Sakatani², Shingo Kameda³, Ayako Matsuoka⁴, Naofumi Murata², Yuki Harada⁴, Hideyo KAWAKITA⁵ (1.The University of Tokyo, 2.JAXA, 3.Rikkyo University, 4.Kyoto University, 5.Kyoto Sangyo University)

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.