Related papers: Near Earth Asteroids:The Celestial Chariots
The CoRoT satellite is the first instrument hunting for planets from space. We will review the status of the CoRoT/Exoplanet program. We will then present the CoRoT exoplanetary systems and how they widen the range of properties of the…
Performing orbital insertion around Mars using aerocapture instead of a propulsive orbit insertion manoeuvre allows to save resources and/or increase the payload mass fraction. Aerocapture has never been employed to date because of the high…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is optimized for observations in the near and mid infrared and will provide essential observations for targets that cannot be conducted from the ground or other missions during its lifetime. The state…
At the dawn of a new space exploration age, aiming to send humans back to the Moon and for the first time to Mars, it is necessary to devise a solution to mitigate the impact that space radiation has on spacecraft and astronauts. Although…
The space challenges do exist at every stride on a human expedition to Mars that arise due to galactic natural phenomena and artificial technologies. This paper emphasizes on Mars orbital and planetary challenges encountered from orbit to…
We propose a realistic pathway to satisfy two goals, thermal infrared studies of Earth-like exoplanets and interferometric architectures.
Neutron stars provide a compelling testing ground for gravity, nuclear dynamics, and physics beyond the Standard Model, and so it will be useful to locate the neutron stars nearest to Earth. To that end, we revisit pulsar distance estimates…
Nomadic worlds, i.e., objects not gravitationally bound to any star(s), are of great interest to planetary science and astrobiology. They have garnered attention recently due to constraints derived from microlensing surveys and the recent…
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…
There are many indications that anthropogenic global warming poses a serious threat to our civilization and its ecological support systems. Ideally this problem will be overcome by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Various space-based…
In addition to planets and other small bodies, stellar systems will likely also host exozodiacal dust, or exozodi. This warm dust primarily resides in or near the habitable zone of a star, and scatters stellar light in visible to NIR…
In the past two decades an increasing interest in discovering Near Earth Objects has been noted in the astronomical community. Dedicated surveys have been operated for data acquisition and processing, resulting in the present discovery of…
Recent observations and detections of interstellar objects (ISOs) passing through the solar system have sparked a wave of interest into these objects. Although rare, these ISOs can be captured into bound orbits around the Sun. In this…
Space safety and astronomy are at odds. The problem posed by space debris and derelict satellites in the low Earth orbit is an existential threat to all space operations. These dangerous objects in space are more easily tracked with…
This paper aims to review the diverse range of technosignatures that have been proposed in the literature. We organize the review by scales, starting carefully from Earth, then zooming out to Earth's orbit, the solar system, including the…
Planetary bodies such as asteroids, comets, and planetary moons are high-value science targets as they hold important information about the formation and evolution of our solar system. However, due to their low-gravity, variable sizes and…
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…
Particle astrophysics experiments often require large volume neutron shields which are formed from hydrogenous material. This note reviews some of the available materials in an attempt to find the most cost effective solution. Raw polymer…
The upcoming phase of space exploration not only includes trips to Mars and beyond, but also holds great promise for human progress. However, the harm caused by cosmic radiation, consisting of Galactic Cosmic Rays and Solar Particle Events,…
An effective method for detailed observation of the Solar System planets is the use of vehicles that can perform flight in their atmospheres, with the most promising of them being Flyers (aircraft for other planets atmospheres). Besides the…