{"id":12562,"date":"2017-06-21T10:45:44","date_gmt":"2017-06-21T10:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/?p=12562"},"modified":"2017-06-21T10:45:44","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T10:45:44","slug":"m-argo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/m-argo\/","title":{"rendered":"M\u2013ARGO"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Credit: \u00a9ESA-Jacky Huart<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ESA has designed its first stand-alone CubeSat mission for deep space \u2013 aimed at targeting a little- known class of asteroid: small in size and rapidly spinning.<\/span><\/p>\n

Studied in the Concurrent Design Facility, ESA\u2019s highly networked facility for designing novel missions, the \u2018Miniaturised \u2013 Asteroid Remote Geophysical Observer\u2019, or M\u2013ARGO, is a nano-spacecraft based on the CubeSat design employing standardised 10 cm cubic units within which electronic boards can be stacked and subsystems attached.<\/span><\/p>\n

M\u2013ARGO would be a 12-unit CubeSat \u2013 with bodily dimensions of 22 x 22 x 34 cm \u2013 that would hitch a ride on the launch of a larger space mission whose trajectory takes it close to beyond Earth orbit\u00a0\u2013 such as large astronomy missions to a<\/span> Sun\u2013Earth Lagrange point<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The CubeSat would then use its own high-efficiency electric propulsion system to take it into deep space and rendezvous with an asteroid target.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCubeSats were originally developed for educational purposes, but they have become a cheap and fast method of demonstrating space technologies,\u201d comments Roger Walker, overseeing ESA\u2019s<\/span> Technology CubeSats<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving shown their worth in low-Earth orbit we have been studying their use further afield, starting with CubeSats for ESA\u2019s proposed<\/span> Asteroid Impact Mission<\/a>\u00a0and then<\/span> the Moon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut these CubeSat studies assumed the availability of a nearby \u2018mothership\u2019 to be relied on for transportation and then communication home. M\u2013ARGO by contrast would be completely stand-alone in nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur CDF study shows the concept is promising and would have a high potential of cutting the entry-level cost of deep-space exploration by about a factor of ten.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The study confirmed a total of four separate asteroids the CubeSat could reach under its own power \u2013 and potentially up to 30 in total \u2013 as Roger explains: \u201cThey are all less than 50 m in diameter \u2013 half the length of a football field \u2013 and all rapidly spinning, modelled accordingly to have no remaining surface dust but instead to be monolithic in nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo this would be a quite new type of planetary body to visit, thereby offering the potential for new scientific discoveries.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

M\u2013ARGO would spend around six months surveying its target, using two miniaturised instruments: a multispectral imager and a laser altimeter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Data would be returned using a specially designed transponder and high-gain antenna array, communicating with existing 15-35 m ESA-operated<\/span> \u2018Estrack<\/a>\u2019 ground stations, with the potential to be backed up by Italy\u2019s larger 64-m diameter Sardinia Radio Telescope for a greater data return.<\/span><\/p>\n

M\u2013ARGO could be ready launch in mid-2021 at the earliest, assuming that some key technology development starts soon. Most of its key technologies are already available, and the study pinpointed other R&D needed to make it possible \u2013 including a CubeSat-sized solar array drive mechanism, electric propulsion and X-band communications, plus radiation hardness of components \u2013 to be performed within ESA technology programmes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The study also considered an alternative mission concept for M\u2013ARGO, as a space weather observatory placed at the Sun\u2013Earth L5 Lagrange Point, hosting a radiation monitor and boom-based magnetometer instrument.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next step will be to start the key technology developments and find a suitable flight opportunity. Then afterwards the main mission and system definition phase could commence.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the M-ARGO concept is studied, ESA will be marking 30 June, \u00a0Asteroid Day, and spreading the word on the tiny bodies that Earth shares space with, as both a scientific resource and a potential danger.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ESA has designed its first stand-alone CubeSat mission for deep space \u2013 aimed at targeting a little- known class of asteroid: small in size and rapidly spinning. Studied in the Concurrent Design Facility, ESA\u2019s highly networked facility for designing novel missions, the \u2018Miniaturised \u2013 Asteroid Remote Geophysical Observer\u2019, or M\u2013ARGO, is a nano-spacecraft based on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-space-news"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/M_ARGO_node_full_image_2.jpg",700,500,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/M_ARGO_node_full_image_2-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/M_ARGO_node_full_image_2-300x214.jpg",300,214,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/M_ARGO_node_full_image_2.jpg",700,500,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/M_ARGO_node_full_image_2.jpg",700,500,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/M_ARGO_node_full_image_2.jpg",700,500,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/M_ARGO_node_full_image_2.jpg",700,500,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/M_ARGO_node_full_image_2.jpg",700,500,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/M_ARGO_node_full_image_2.jpg",700,500,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/M_ARGO_node_full_image_2.jpg",600,429,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/M_ARGO_node_full_image_2.jpg",600,429,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/M_ARGO_node_full_image_2.jpg",686,490,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/M_ARGO_node_full_image_2.jpg",504,360,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/M_ARGO_node_full_image_2.jpg",91,65,false],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/M_ARGO_node_full_image_2.jpg",640,457,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/M_ARGO_node_full_image_2.jpg",96,69,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/M_ARGO_node_full_image_2.jpg",150,107,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Amrita Tuladhar"]},"category_info":"Space\/ AstroPhysics<\/a>","tag_info":"Space\/ AstroPhysics","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}