[meteorite-list] Small Landing Probes for In-Situ Characterization of Asteroids and Comets

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2007 19:11:01 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200701150311.TAA09895_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.

Contact:
(303) 533-6059

Jan. 7, 2007

Ebbets presents "Small Landing Probes for In-Situ Characterization of
Asteroids and Comets" poster at AAS

Boulder, Colo. -- The 2007 American Astronomical Society's annual meeting in
Seattle, Jan 5-10, will include a poster presentation depicting a small
landing probe design developed by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. The
poster will be presented by Dennis Ebbets, Senior Business Development
Manager for Ball Aerospace's Space Science division in Boulder, CO,
beginning at 9:20 a.m. (PST) on Jan. 7.

Led by Staff Consultant Richard Reinert and Ball's Deputy Director for Solar
System Advanced Systems Rich Dissly, Ball Aerospace has a developed a
landing probe design concept that would enable characterization of both the
surface and interior of small solar system objects, such as asteroids and
comets, as part of future space missions to such targets.

"The basic probe designed by Ball Aerospace could become a low-cost
component of future missions that would enable a rich spectrum of in-situ
investigations to a large number of target bodies," said Ebbets. "In many
cases more than one probe may be desired to sample different regions or to
work together as a network of sensors."

The probe design is roughly the size of a basketball, allowing for several
to be carried by a rendezvous spacecraft and deployed individually. They
are intended to survive a freefall to the surface, impacting with a velocity
of only a few meters/second. Deployable panels on the nominally spherical
body are designed to ensure self-righting to an operational orientation.

Each probe could accommodate a payload of several kilograms, optimized for
its particular investigation. Candidates include imagers, accelerometers,
X-Ray spectrometers, sample collection and examination mechanisms, and
possibly pyrotechnic charges for seismic excitation or cratering
experiments. The probe provides a standard suite of services such as
battery power, data management and communications with the rendezvous
spacecraft. Ball Aerospace is also studying options for mobility, such as
"hopping", and for anchoring to the surface of a micro-gravity body.

The American Astronomical Society (AAS), established in 1899, is the major
organization of professional astronomers in North America. The basic
objective of the AAS is to promote the advancement of astronomy and closely
related branches of science.

Ball Aerospace celebrated its 50th year in business in 2006. The company
began building pointing controls for military rockets in 1956, and later won
a contract to build one of NASA's first spacecraft, the Orbiting Solar
Observatory. Over the years, the company has been responsible for numerous
technological and scientific firsts' and now acts as a technology innovator
for important national missions.

Ball Corporation is a supplier of high-quality metal and plastic packaging
products and owns Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. Ball reported 2005
sales of $5.8 billion and employs 15,600 people.

IMAGE CAPTION:
[http://www.ballaerospace.com/media/images/aas_image.jpg (692KB)]
Rendering of landing probe.
Received on Sun 14 Jan 2007 10:11:01 PM PST