Bridge to the stars: A mission concept to an interstellar object
- Creators
- Moore, Kimberly
- Courville, Samuel
- Ferguson, Sierra
- Schoenfeld, Ashley
- Llera, Kristie
- Agrawal, Rachana
- Brack, Daniel
- Buhler, Peter
- Connour, Kyle
- Czaplinski, Ellen
- DeLuca, Michael
- Deutsch, Ariel
- Hammond, Noah
- Kuettel, Donald
- Marusiak, Angela
- Nerozzi, Stefano
- Stuart, Jeffrey
- Tarnas, Jesse
- Thelen, Alexander
- Castillo-Rogez, Julie
- Smythe, William
- Landau, Damon
- Mitchell, Karl
- Budney, Charles
Abstract
Exoplanet discoveries since the mid-1990's have revealed an astounding diversity of planetary systems. Studying these systems is essential to understanding planetary formation processes, as well as the development of life in the universe. Unfortunately, humanity can only observe limited aspects of exoplanetary systems by telescope, and the significant distances between stars presents a barrier to in situ exploration. In this study, we propose an alternative path to gain insight into exoplanetary systems: Bridge, a mission concept design to fly by an interstellar object as it passes through our solar system. Designed as a New Frontiers-class mission during the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Planetary Science Summer Seminar, Bridge would provide a unique opportunity to gain insight into potential physical, chemical, and biological differences between solar systems as well as the possible exchange of planetary materials between them. Bridge employs ultraviolet/visible, near-infrared, and mid-infrared point spectrometers, a visible camera, and a guided impactor. We also provide a quantitative Monte Carlo analysis that estimates wait times for a suitable target, and examines key trades between ground storage and a parking orbit, power sources, inner versus outer solar system encounters, and launch criteria. Due to the fleeting nature of interstellar objects, reaching an interstellar object may require an extended ground storage phase for the spacecraft until a suitable target is discovered, followed by a rapid response launch strategy. To enable rapid response missions designed to intercept such unique targets, language would need to be added to future NASA announcements of opportunity such that ground storage and rapid response would be allowable components of a proposed mission.
Additional Information
© 2020 Elsevier. Received 1 April 2020, Revised 6 November 2020, Accepted 9 November 2020, Available online 11 December 2020. The Bridge team would like to thank Leslie Lowes and Joyce Armijo for their coordination of the Planetary Science Summer Seminar, Bill Smythe for his assistance with our instruments and STM, Randii Wessen and the JPL A-Team sessions, Al Nash and Team X for their expertise and guidance. We'd also like to thank NASA Planetary Science Division, and NASA's Radioisotope Power Systems program for financial support of the program. Part of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). We are also grateful to Dr. Darryl Seligman and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful feedback. The information presented about the Bridge mission concept is pre-decisional and is provided for planning and discussion purposes only. This document has been reviewed and determined not to contain export controlled technical data. The cost information contained in this document is of a budgetary and planning nature and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute a commitment on the part of JPL and/or Caltech. CRediT authorship contribution statement: Kimberly Moore: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Project administration, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Samuel Courville: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Project administration, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Sierra Ferguson: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Project administration, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Ashley Schoenfeld: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Project administration, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Kristie Llera: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Project administration, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Rachana Agrawal: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Daniel Brack: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Peter Buhler: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Kyle Connour: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Ellen Czaplinski: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Michael DeLuca: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Ariel Deutsch: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Noah Hammond: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Donald Kuettel: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Angela Marusiak: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Stefano Nerozzi: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Jeffrey Stuart: Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Resources, Validation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Jesse Tarnas: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Alexander Thelen: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Julie Castillo-Rogez: Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. William Smythe: Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Writing - original draft. Damon Landau: Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Writing - original draft. Karl Mitchell: Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Charles Budney: Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.Attached Files
Supplemental Material - 1-s2.0-S0032063320303500-mmc1.xml
Supplemental Material - 1-s2.0-S0032063320303500-mmc2.docx
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 107160
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20201217-124922454
- NASA/JPL/Caltech
- 80NM0018D0004
- Created
-
2020-12-17Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2023-01-19Created from EPrint's last_modified field