[P-PS07] Planetary Sciences

[PPS07-20] The Next Generation small-body Sample Return mission: Mission overview

*Yuri Shimaki¹, Hiroyuki Kurokawa², Naoya Sakatani¹, Ryota Fukai¹, Tatsuaki Okada¹, Jun Aoki³, Yoko Kebukawa⁴, Atsushi Kumamoto⁵, Satoshi Tanaka¹, Taichi Kawamura⁶, Seitaro Urakawa⁷, ERI TATSUMI¹, Yuki Takao⁸, Shota Kikuchi⁹, Jun Matsumoto¹, Osamu Mori¹, Takanao Saiki¹, Yuichi Tsuda¹, The Next Generation small-body Sample Return Working Group (1.Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 2.Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3.Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 4.School of Science Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 5.Graduate School of Science and Faculty of Science, Tohoku University, 6.Université de Paris, 7.Japan Spaceguard Association, 8.Faculty Of Engineering, Kyushu University, 9.National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

Keywords:The Solar-System Exploration, Small Bodies, Comets, Sample return

Sample return missions are a powerful tool to bring extraterrestrial materials back to Earth. We have established the Next Generation small-body Sample Return (NGSR) Working Group (WG) as the forthcoming small-body sample return mission following Hayabusa2 and MMX, and have been studying the mission in a unified science and engineering team. As a nexus between planetary science and galaxy/star formation, we have set the scientific goals of this mission as I) to elucidate the origin of solar system "material" tracing the evolution of galactic material, and II) to elucidate the origin of solar system "bodies" approaching the formation process of planetesimals. Considering the mission prerequisites and orbital feasibility of the spacecraft system, the Jupiter family comet 289P/Blanpain was selected as the nominal candidate for the target object. The nominal mission period is launch in 2034, arrival in 2040, and return to Earth in 2046. The spacecraft system mainly consists of a Deep Space Orbital Transfer Vehicle (DS-OTV), which is responsible for round trip transportation from Earth to the comet, and a lander spacecraft, which is responsible for touchdown (TD) sampling in the proximity of the object. This will allow both challenging sampling and avoidance of the risk of spacecraft loss associated with TD operations. We will collect material from the surface and subsurface of the comet by sampling from multiple points. To access subsurface material, techniques such as a Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI) will be used. Volatile materials from comets will be analyzed by a High-Resolution Mass Spectrometer (HRMS) onboarded on a spacecraft. To elucidate the formation process of comets (whether they are pebble-pile or rubble-pile objects), we are considering internal structure surveys via bi-static radar observations and seismometer observations. This mission will be proposed to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in FY2024 as a strategic L-class mission candidate.