Near-Earth Asteroid Scout Flight Mission

Abstract

As one of the secondary payloads on the space launch systems vehicle, the Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout will demonstrate a low-cost and innovative approach to deep space reconnaissance missions. The main objective is to image and characterize a Near-Earth asteroid. The spacecraft packages a full deep space mission into the volume of a 6U CubeSat. To enable long-term sustained propulsion to the target, a solar sail is utilized as the main propulsion system. The spacecraft bus is single string, with compact avionics. Guidance and control performance meets science requirements with margin, but limited power impacts the amount of science data that can be returned, an aspect that is in part mitigated by the introduction of novel on-board data analysis software. Following in the recent footsteps of the Mars Cube One (MarCO) mission, the first deep space CubeSat demonstration, which included the infusion of the Iris radio; the NEA Scout will continue to blaze the trail for small CubeSats for interplanetary science and reconnaissance missions. This article will provide an overview of the mission, flight system design, and unique features needed for science and propulsion.