Smallsat 2016: A Closer Look at DSI’s Prospector-1 Mission

Prospector-1 mission (Credit: DSI)

Deep Space Industries’ Grant Bonin provided more details this week about the company’s Prospector-1 asteroid mission at the Small Satellite Conference in Utah.  Below is a summary based on the tweets of Jeff Foust ‏(@jeff_foust) and David Hurst ‏(@OrbitalDave).

Enjoy!

Grant Bonin
Deep Space Industries

• Prospector-1 will be the first commercial spacecraft sent to an asteroid
• Prospector-1 is a 50-kg spacecraft whose main objective is to look for extractable water
• Water will be key to the cis-lunar economy
• Company examining 6 “very attractive” asteroids to explore
• There’s a lot we still don’t know about asteroids – two asteroids that appear similar can be very different
• Prospector-1 will attempt to soft land on asteroid at the end of its surveying mission to study regolith
• Landing will also validate policy regime for commercial asteroid resources
• Prospector-1 has midwave and visible infrared imaging for imaging asteroid and neutron spectrometer to study subsurface hydrogen
• Spacecraft will launch as a secondary payload, use its own chemical rocket stage to leave Earth orbit for the asteroid
• DSI will use super heated water for spacecraft propulsion

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