Trajectory design of multiple asteroid sample return missions Original Research Article

As one of the potential candidates of the “post-MUSES-C” minor body exploration to be launched around 2010, we have investigated scientific justifications and feasible mission scenarios. Two mission types are focused on among many other proposed mission concepts. One is the multiple rendezvous and sample return mission to asteroids whose spectral type is already known. The other is the multiple fly-bys and sample return mission to an asteroid family. This paper reports the preliminary design results of these two proposed missions.