CDF Study Report: Small Planetary Platforms (SPP) in NEO and MAB
Publication date: 12 June 2018
Year: 2018
Copyright: ESA
ESA's Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) has completed an assessment study of Small Planetary Platforms (SPP): small mission concepts that include a mothercraft and a swarm of small satellites that can be deployed. ESA's Science Directorate requested and managed the study as one of three topics selected for investigation following the "New Science Ideas" call for proposals.
The concept studied was a proposal to perform multi-point (and possibly multi-target) measurements around small bodies (asteroids and comets), as well as Mars or Venus, to gather information from different locations simultaneously.
The main goal of the study was not to design a specific mission but to provide a "tool-box" of technical building blocks the community can use to develop these new planetary mission architectures, in reply to future science calls.
The full CDF study report consists of three main reports, each available in pdf format below: