Hayabusa spacecraft, JAXA

OVERVIEW

Context and Objectives

The populations of Small Bodies, in particular comets and asteroids, are the last witnesses of the origin and early evolution of the Solar System and of the formation scenarios of its planets. Collecting samples from these objects to analyse them using the powerful analytic tools available in our Earth-based laboratories is one of the most promising ways of reading the early History of our Solar System to learn about our own origins. This is the reason why several space agencies have programmed sample return missions from these bodies, in addition to remote sensing and in situ analysis missions.
At a time when China considers flying a full-scale sample return mission as a component of its 14th five-year plan for priority space science missions, this ISSI-Beijing FORUM will discuss in an international context the science drivers and key sample collection objectives of such missions and will explore the possible mission scenarios with the objective of identifying the most promising ones.

Date

17-18 January, 2018

AGENDA

Forum Program (PDF) >>