The cubesat will also use a lunar gravitational assist to catch up to asteroid 2020 GE in 2023.
."This is a huge challenge. For asteroid characterization missions, there's simply not enough room on a cubesat for large propulsion systems and the fuel they require."
NEA Scout will be traveling to asteroid 2020 GE, a small asteroid about 60 feet across that circles the sun once every 368 days. In order to get to the space rock, the cubesat will swing past for a gravitational assist, as well as the aforementioned solar sail, which measures 925 square feet . as a propellant instead of a liquid or solid fuel, which ultimately frees up more mass on spacecraft.
Once NEA Scout arrives at the asteroid in 2023, the spacecraft will use its onboard cameras to image the space rock, studying its shape, rotation, debris field and characteristics of its surface. "NEA Scout will accomplish probably the slowest flyby of an asteroid ever — at a relative speed of less than 100 feet [30 meters] per second," Julie Castillo-Rogez, the mission's principal science investigator at JPL, said in a statement."This will give us a few hours to gather invaluable science and allow us to see what asteroids of this class look like up close."
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