Suess-Urey mission (return of solar matter to Earth)

  • Donald Rapp
  • , Firouz Naderi
  • , Marcia Neugebauer
  • , Donald Sevilla
  • , Donald Sweetnam
  • , Donald Burnett
  • , Roger Wiens
  • , Nicholas Smith
  • , Benton Clark
  • , David McComas
  • , Eileen Stansbery

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

Abstract

The Suess-Urey (S-U) mission has been proposed as a NASA Discovery mission to return samples of matter from the Sun to the Earth for isotopic and chemical analyses in terrestrial laboratories to provide a major improvement in our knowledge of the average chemical and isotopic composition of the solar system. The S-U spacecraft and sample return capsule will be placed in a halo orbit around the L1 Sun-Earth libration point for two years to collect solar wind ions which implant into large passive collectors made of ultra-pure materials. Constant Spacecraft-Sun-Earth geometries enable simple spin stabilized attitude control, simple passive thermal control, and a fixed medium gain antenna. Low data requirements and the safety of a Sun-pointed spinner, result in extremely low mission operations costs.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)229-238
Number of pages10
JournalUnknown Journal
Volume39
Issue number1-4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1996
Externally publishedYes
EventProceedings of the 1996 2nd IAA International Conference on Low-Cost Planetary Missions - Laurel, MD, USA
Duration: Apr 16 1996Apr 19 1996

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Aerospace Engineering

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