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Space, new studies underway on asteroids

Space, new studies underway on asteroids

exploration asteroids Become more robust and self-sufficient with innovative dust sampling solutions asteroids And the comets. This is the goal Politecnico di Milano who has been appointed as coordinator of the European research project Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship (Muska- if)

Cradle of civilization (Collection of samples orbiting asteroids). asteroids And the cometsThey contain, in fact, key information on the birth and evolution of our solar system, PoliMi explains. These orbs are rich in precious resources such as minerals, silicates, and water that can be tapped by future expeditions to extract them and allow for long-term self-sustaining missions, but the physical composition of the asteroids It is diverse and, in most cases, little known, Politecnico di Milano researchers warn.

Project Cradle, led by researcher Mirko Trisolini, aims to improve our knowledge of asteroids by revealing the dynamics and composition of their powders. Cradle explores new concepts of asteroid sampling by studying the way particles are collected while in orbit, without thus landing, thus avoiding complex and risky processes. Particles – samples – can be generated by colliding the asteroid with a small but fast projectile. hit once asteroidparticles are ejected from the impact nozzle with properties that depend on the effect itself and on the characteristics of the target.

“It’s a complex process – explains Mirco Tresolini, a researcher in the Compass Group of the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology at Politecnico di Milano – in which we use statistical models, also integrating images of the collision event and the location of the impact.” Trisolini asserts that “the aggregation of particles in orbit depends on the prediction of the positions of the particles after the collision. Therefore, improving the robustness of impact analysis along with statistical analysis methods is of paramount importance. A collection in orbit also means understanding where to place the spacecraft around the asteroid and what kind of collector it should be equipped with.”

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Cradle of civilization It then studies the movement of the particle around the asteroid to predict which areas are most suitable for harvesting, and by estimating the number of particles, derives the required size of the harvesting instrument. Mirko Trisolini detects the dynamics of powders asteroids Japan Aerospace Agency The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa), under the direction of Professor Camila Colombo of Politecnico di Milano and Professor Yuichi Tsuda of JAXA, project manager for the Hayabusa 2 mission that collected samples fromRyugu asteroid and brought them back to earth.

Mirco Trisolini is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology at Politecnico di Milano, received his Ph.D. in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Southampton in 2019 and in 2020 was awarded the MSCA IF Scholarship. – International fellowship to study the motion of particles in orbit around asteroids and other small objects and to study possible ways to safely collect these samples through the initial design of the collecting device.

Trisolini also started the MSCA Fellowship in March 2021, in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) and University of Padua, has been involved in four research projects in collaboration with ESA and ASI and is the author of 15 publications. Book chapter and about 30 works in total. Finally, the Italian researcher is a reviewer for international journals in the field of aeronautical engineering and celestial mechanics, and his research interests are in astrodynamics, reentry dynamics, and space debris environment assessment and mitigation.