Interplanetary CubeSats for asteroid exploration: Mission analysis and design

Abstract Recent advances in CubeSats technology are leading the transition from purely education tools to actual scientific missions. The small volumes and masses, the versatile purpose, as well as the fast development time associated with a potential high return-to-cost ratio are at the origin of the increasing number of new mission proposals, also beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). The purpose of this study is to assess the CubeSats ability to complement an interplanetary scientific mission. The proposed AIDA (Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment) mission, an ESA/NASA joint effort to demonstrate the kinetic impact technique to change the motion of an asteroid in space, has been selected as case study, having a mission context particularly suitable in showing CubeSats supporting capabilities. The feasibility study of a mission involving the use of CubeSats as secondaries for technology demonstration and science purposes was performed. Mission objectives and requirements were defined, followed by the development of concepts of operations and mission architectures proposals. Eventually, multiple trade-off tools were adopted to define the proposed mission baseline, which involves the deployment of two 3U CubeSats performing a detachment to achieve the final configuration of one 2U and four 1U CubeSats. The scientific campaign conducted by the CubeSats includes gravitational and magnetic field mapping, on-surface chemical-physical measurements via multiple wide chip-size-sensor nets deployed from orbit, on-surface seismic measurements via landing of the 2U CubeSat, direct observation of the impact from multiple viewpoints and evaluation of the asteroid's orbit deflection due to the impact. The mission proposed involves also some important technological demonstrators. The S-iEPS (Scalable-ion Electrospray Propulsion System) has been considered as propulsion system, while a potential landing system has been proposed to achieve the soft touchdown of the 2U CubeSat. Finally, an inter-satellite communication link via laser has been included as main communication system. The proposed mission baseline has shown that CubeSats can be successfully integrated as multi-platform systems to provide useful support to interplanetary missions. This solution may enable the capability to acquire more detailed information with the possibility to combine them to obtain better results with respect to single-platform systems. The proposed mission concept represents a valuable low-cost piggyback solution adaptable to several mission contexts, with a potential high return and a remarkable attitude for the implementation and testing of new technologies and operations. In this context, this study provides a useful framework for the design and development of interplanetary CubeSats missions.