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Planning begins on asteroid 'nano-rover'
By MARY BETH MURRILL

   A formal project office was established in 1997 to manage the 
U.S. contribution to the Japanese-managed Muses-C mission to 
collect and return to Earth a sample from an asteroid.
   This innovative mission will use new flight technology, 
including solar electric propulsion, to send a spacecraft to 
asteroid 4660 Nereus and deliver a JPL-developed rover, which 
measures about the size of a shoebox, to the asteroid's surface. 
The Japanese Muses-C spacecraft will also fire explosive charges 
into the asteroid, collect the samples that are ejected from the 
impacts, and return the samples to Earth in a capsule for 
laboratory analysis. The mission is scheduled for launch in 
2002.
   "This represents an opportunity for the U.S. and Japan's 
space engineers and scientists to combine their expertise to 
achieve major science and technology goals in a cost-constrained 
environment," said Ross Jones, project manager for the U.S. 
portion of the mission called Muses-C ("N" stands for "NASA"). 
Overall management of the Muses-C project resides at Japan's 
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science.
   In addition to providing the rover, JPL will arrange for the 
testing of the Muses-C reentry heat shield at NASA's Ames 
Research Center, arrange for supplemental Deep Space Network 
tracking of the spacecraft, and assist in spacecraft navigation. 
JPL's responsibilities also include arranging for recovery of 
the return capsule and performance of work to meet the 
requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. 
   The asteroid samples will be returned to a landing site in 
the U.S, and American and Japanese investigators will 
collaborate on shared data from the rover and the spacecraft.
   In 1997, the JPL Muses-CN project team completed hardware and 
software integration of a nano-rover prototype. Performance 
evaluations of the camera and spectrometer for the rover also 
began, as did research and analysis of navigation and sample 
reentry work. Preliminary plans for the heat shield design 
review and testing are in place at the Ames Research Center.
   Muses-CN project highlights at JPL in the coming year will 
include the completion of the rover engineering model design, 
and release of the announcement of opportunity to the science 
community, beginning the selection process for scientists who 
will be investigators on the project. 

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