Missions to near-earth asteroids are of interest to both scientists and prospectors in search of extraterrestrial materials. The primary consideration in selecting the object to explore is accessibility, or the global minimum total Delta-V for a two-impulse transfer or less than 360 deg from standard Shuttle orbit to rendezvous with the asteroid. A ranking by accessibility of all known near-earth asteroids is presented. In addition, actual mission opportunities with launch dates between 1990 and 2010 for the most accessible are listed and compared with the optimal rendezvous. Actual sample return opportunities are investigated for the best candidates.
Accessibility of near-earth asteroids
1987-06-01
Miscellaneous
No indication
English
Accessibility of near-earth asteroids
AIAA | 1987
|Mission Accessibility of Near-Earth Asteroids
NTIS | 2015
|The Accessibility of the Near-Earth Asteroids
AIAA | 2016
|The Mission Accessibility of Near-Earth Asteroids
NTRS | 2015
|The Mission Accessibility of Near-Earth Asteroids
NTRS | 2015
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