// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Calathus say on its mission? It had a vessel interest.
Calathus is a proposed student-designed Ceres sample-return mission, that would consist of an orbiter and a lander with an ascent module. The orbiter would be equipped with a camera, a thermal imager, and a radar; the lander will have a sampling arm, a camera, and a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer. The mission objective is to return as much as 40 grams (1.4 oz) of Ceresian soil.[1] The mission was designed and proposed in 2018 with support of ESA.[2]
The spacecraft would likely take samples from Occator Crater,[2] that was studied and photographed by NASA's Dawn. There are three main scientific questions that Calathus would investigate:[2]
- Does Ceres contains the ingredients for life?
- Where did Ceres form? did it migrate to its current location?
- Did objects like Ceres play a significant role in delivering water and organics to the inner planets?
Further reading
[edit]- "The Calathus Mission" (PDF). Alpbach Summer School.
- "SAMPLE RETURN FROM A RELIC OCEAN WORLD: THE CALATHUS MISSION TO OCCATOR CRATER, CERES" (PDF). 51st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2020). 2021.
References
[edit]- ↑ Gassot, Oriane (April 2021). "Calathus: A sample-return mission to Ceres" (PDF). Acta Astronautica. 181: 112–129. Bibcode:2021AcAau.181..112G. doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2020.12.050. hdl:10141/622884. S2CID 234121413.
- 1 2 3 "The Calathus Mission Concept to Occator Crater at Ceres: Science, Operations and Systems Design" (PDF). ESA.
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