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Asteroid (99942) Apophis' close approach in 2029 will be one of the most significant small-body encounter events in the near future and offers a good opportunity for in situ exploration to determine the asteroid's surface properties and…
In areas that are inaccessible to humans, such as the lunar surface and landslide sites, there is a need for multiple autonomous mobile robot systems that can replace human workers. In particular, at landslide sites such as river channel…
Remote sensing observations by Hayabusa2 and laboratory measurements have revealed that the phyllosilicates on asteroid (162173) Ryugu are dehydrated/dehydroxylated due to space weathering. Reactive molecular dynamics simulations were…
Small-satellites and CubeSats offer a low-cost pathway to access Low Earth Orbit at altitudes of 450 km and lower thanks to miniaturization and advancement in reliability of commercial electronics. However, at these low altitudes,…
The migration of cohesive regolith on the surface of an otherwise monolithic or strong asteroid is studied using theoretical and simulation models. The theory and simulations show that under an increasing spin rate (such as due to the YORP…
Low-thrust trajectory design relies heavily on repeated evaluations of fuel consumption and transfer feasibility, which require expensive optimal control solutions. In this work, we show these quantities can be accurately approximated by…
Spin off events and impacts can eject boulders from an asteroid surface and rubble pile asteroids can accumulate from debris following a collision between large asteroids. These processes produce a population of gravitational bound objects…
Hydrous minerals are found on the surfaces of asteroids, but their origin is not clear. If their origin is endogenic, the hydrous minerals that were formed in the inner part of a planetesimal (or parent body) should come out on to the…
One challenge with explaining how high levels of planetary debris can enrich, or "pollute", old ($\sim$3 Gyr) and very old ($\sim$10 Gyr) white dwarfs is that debris reservoirs deplete on shorter timescales, akin to the solar system's…
We report the H, C, and N isotopic compositions of microscale (0.2 to 2$\mu$m) organic matter in samples of asteroid Ryugu and the Orgueil CI carbonaceous chondrite. Three regolith particles of asteroid Ryugu, returned by the Hayabusa2…
Extrasolar debris disks are detected by observing dust, which is thought to be released during planetesimal collisions. This implies that planetesimals are dynamically excited ("stirred"), such that collisions are sufficiently common and…
A method for asteroid deflection that makes use of a spacecraft moving back and forth on a segment of a Keplerian orbit about the asteroid is studied with the aim of optimizing the initial gross mass of the spacecraft. The corresponding…
Low-thrust electric propulsion missions are often designed under simplifying assumptions such as constant thrust or fixed specific impulse, neglecting the strong coupling between trajectory dynamics, spacecraft power availability, and…
Coagulation theory predicts that micron-sized dust grains grow into pebbles which drift inward towards the star, when they reach sizes of mm-cm. When they cross the orbit of a planet, a fraction of these drifting pebbles will be accreted.…
Planetesimal formation via the streaming and gravitational instabilities of dust in protoplanetary disks requires a local enhancement of the dust-to-gas mass ratio. Radial drift of large grains toward pressure bumps in gas disks is a…
asteroids or comets have received remarkable attention in the world. In small body explorations, especially, detailed in-situ surface exploration by tiny rover is one of effective and fruitful means and is expected to make strong…
The OSIRIS-REx Mission was selected under the NASA New Frontiers program and is scheduled for launch in September of 2016 for a rendezvous with, and collection of a sample from the surface of asteroid Bennu in 2019. 101955 Bennu (previously…
Pebble accretion is a new mechanism to quickly grow the cores of planets. In pebble accretion, gravity and gas drag conspire to yield large collisional cross sections for small particles in protoplanetary disks. However, before pebble…
Near Earth Asteroids have a possibility of impacting with the Earth and always have a thread on the Earth. This paper proposes a way of changing the trajectory of the asteroid to avoid the impaction. Solar sail evolving in a H-reversal…
Approaching a tumbling target safely is a critical challenge in space debris removal missions utilizing robotic manipulators onboard servicing satellites. In this work, we propose a trajectory planning method based on nonlinear optimization…