Guidance, Control and Dynamics for Asteroid Exploration

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There is currently significant worldwide interest in the exploration of small celestial bodies, such as asteroids and comets. These bodies provide key insights into the formation of planets, as well as the solar system itself. Thus, from a scientific point of view, the exploration of these bodies has been of interest for several decades, just as they are today. ***In more recent years, Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) have become of increasing interest for human exploration and exploitation as well. A human exploration mission to a NEA is viewed as an intermediate step towards an eventual human mission to Mars. Furthermore, human exploration of asteroids is needed to identify what resources could be mined from asteroids in order to support a human presence in space. Such exploration is also important from the point of view of protecting Earth from potential asteroid impact. There have been an increasing number of research efforts focusing on developing methods to deflect asteroids on a collision course with Earth. However, for any of these methods to be successful, the physical properties of asteroids (such as mass, surface and structural properties) need to be well understood. The exploration of asteroids is essential for gaining this understanding. ***Within this context, the objectives of the work in this proposal are in support of future asteroid exploration missions. Specifically, the objectives are: ***(1) Accurate dynamical modelling of the coupled orbital/attitude spacecraft dynamics in close proximity of asteroids. ***(2) Development of fuel efficient guidance and control laws for spacecraft maneuvering in close proximity of asteroids, exploiting the orbital/attitude coupling. ***(3) Development of a method for gravitational model estimation of asteroids utilizing orbit and attitude measurements of an orbiting spacecraft. ***(4) Development of guidance and control laws for the safe transfer (by a spacecraft) of a boulder from a Near Earth Asteroid to a lunar orbit (within the context of the upcoming NASA Asteroid Redirect Mission). **