Related papers: Odyssey: a Solar System Mission
Recently, we witnessed how the synergy of small satellite technology and solar sailing propulsion enables new missions. Together, small satellites with lightweight instruments and solar sails offer affordable access to deep regions of the…
Euclid is an ESA Cosmic-Vision wide-field-space mission which is designed to explain the origin of the acceleration of Universe expansion. The mission will investigate at the same time two primary cosmological probes: Weak gravitational…
(Abridged) The solar system gas giant planets are oblate due to their rapid rotation. A measurement of the planet's projected oblateness would constrain the planet's rotational period. Planets that are synchronously rotating with their…
The classical tests of general relativity - light deflection, time delay and perihelion shift - are applied, along with the geodetic precession test, to the five-dimensional extension of the theory known as Kaluza-Klein gravity, using an…
Kepler is a NASA mission designed to detect exoplanets and characterize the properties of exoplanetary systems. Kepler also includes an asteroseismic programme which is being conducted through the Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium…
EarthFinder is a Probe Mission concept selected for study by NASA for input to the 2020 astronomy decadal survey. This study is currently active and a final white paper report is due to NASA at the end of calendar 2018. We are tasked with…
This paper discusses experimental design for the Laser Astrometric Test Of Relativity (LATOR) mission. LATOR is designed to reach unprecedented accuracy of 1 part in 10^8 in measuring the curvature of the solar gravitational field as given…
We study the gravity assist in the general case, i.e. when the spacecraft is not in a coplanar motion with respect to the planet's orbit. Our derivation is based on Kepler's planetary motion and Galilean addition of velocities, subjects…
ASTROD I is the first planned space mission in a series of ASTROD missions for testing relativity in space using optical devices. The main aims are: (i) to test General Relativity with an improvement of three orders of magnitude compared to…
In March 2009, NASA will launch the Kepler satellite -- a mission designed to discover habitable Earth-like planets around distant Sun-like stars. The method that Kepler will use to detect distant worlds will only reveal the size of the…
In most studies of equivalence principle violation by solar system bodies, it is assumed that the ratio of gravitational to inertial mass for a given body deviates from unity by a parameter Delta which is proportional to its gravitational…
Gaia is an astrometric mission that will be launched in 2013 and set on L2 point of Lagrange. It will observe a large number of Solar System Objets (SSO) down to magnitude 20. The Solar System Science goal is to map thousand of Main Belt…
The study of planets beyond the solar system and the search for other habitable planets and life is just beginning. Ground-based (radial velocity and transits) and space-based surveys (transits and astrometry) will identify planets spanning…
Solar Orbiter is intended to become ESA's next solar mission in heritage of the successful SOHO project. The scientific objectives of the mission, its design, and its scientific payload are reviewed. Specific emphasis is given to the…
Asteroseismology of solar-type stars has an important part to play in the exoplanet program of the NASA Kepler Mission. Precise and accurate inferences on the stellar properties that are made possible by the seismic data allow very tight…
A solar sail propelled small satellite mission concept to intercept and potentially rendezvous with newly discovered transient interstellar objects (ISOs) is described. The mission concept derives from the proposal for a technology…
Searching for exoplanets with different methods has always been the focus of astronomers over the past few years. Among multiple planet detection techniques, astrometry stands out for its capability to accurately determine the orbital…
The Kepler Mission is exploring the diversity of planets and planetary systems. Its legacy will be a catalog of discoveries sufficient for computing planet occurrence rates as a function of size, orbital period, star-type, and insolation…
The Mars Odyssey spacecraft carries two experiments which are capable of detecting cosmic gamma-ray bursts and soft gamma repeaters. Since April 2001 they have detected over 275 bursts and, in conjunction with the other spacecraft of the…
As the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) fulfills its primary mission it is executing an unprecedented all-sky survey with the potential to discover distant planets in our own solar system, as well as hundreds of…