The APIES mission to explore the asteroid belt Original Research Article

APIES (Asteroid Population Investigation & Exploration Swarm) is a mission developed by EADS Astrium in response to the European Space Agency (ESA) recent Call for Ideas for “swarm” missions, based on the utilisation of a large number of spacecraft working cooperatively to achieve the mission objectives. APIES is intended to be the first interplanetary swarm mission, designed to explore the asteroid main belt. This is one of the least known parts of the Solar System, yet holding vital information about its evolution and planet formation. APIES aims to characterize a statistically significant sample of asteroids, exploring the main belt in great detail, measuring mass & density and imaging over 100 of these objects, at a stroke more than doubling the number of Solar System bodies visited by man-made spacecraft. Using the latest advances in systems miniaturization, propulsion, onboard autonomy and communications, the APIES mission can achieve these ambitious goals within the framework of a standard ESA mission. APIES has completed a mission feasibility study as part of the general studies programme (GSP) of ESA, whose purpose is to evaluate novel missions, concepts, methods, and to identify their research and development needs beyond the programmes currently running.