Role of sample return mission MUSES-C in asteroid study Original Research Article

Asteroid ample return is crucial to establish the relationship between asteroid taxonomic type and meteorite type, to draw a global map of material distribution in the whole asteroid belt based on the ground-based spectroscopic observation. MUSES-C is a Japanese sample return mission to one of S-type near-earth asteroids, 1998 SF36 (25143), which will be launched in May 2003, and returns to the earth in June 2007. It carries a camera with filters, a near-infrared spectrometer, an X-ray spectrometer, a LIDAR for remote sensing observation from the hovering position above the asteroid. It also drops a miniature lander with two cameras onto the asteroid surface. The sampler has three projectors which can launch small projectiles onto the asteroid surface, and the ejected fragments are passively caught into the canister through the funnel-shaped cylinder. Preliminary analysis of the returned sample will be carried out for about one year in the curation facilities scheduled to be constructed in Japan. Within one and half a year after return of the sample the proposals to the international announcement of opportunity are selected for the further detailed analysis.