Space instrumentation

Abstract:

© 2018 D. Bogensberger, published by De Gruyter. "Eclipse times for HS 0705+6700 which Bogensberger et al. (2017, Open Astronomy 26, 134, their table 2) list are exposure-start times; times of mid-exposure are obtained by adding thirty seconds (0.00035 days) to each entry. Third body orbital parameterswhich Bogensberger et al. deduce are superseded by the analysis of more recent data, to be the subject of a future publication".

Abstract:

We describe Caroline, a mission proposal submitted to the European Space Agency in 2010 in response to the Cosmic Visions M3 call for medium-sized missions. Caroline would have travelled to a Main Belt Comet (MBC), characterizing the object during a flyby, and capturing dust from its tenuous coma for return to Earth. MBCs are suspected to be transition objects straddling the traditional boundary between volatile–poor rocky asteroids and volatile–rich comets. The weak cometary activity exhibited by these objects indicates the presence of water ice, and may represent the primary type of object that delivered water to the early Earth. The Caroline mission would have employed aerogel as a medium for the capture of dust grains, as successfully used by the NASA Stardust mission to Comet 81P/Wild 2. We describe the proposed mission design, primary elements of the spacecraft, and provide an overview of the science instruments and their measurement goals. Caroline was ultimately not selected by the European Space Agency during the M3 call; we briefly reflect on the pros and cons of the mission as proposed, and how current and future mission MBC mission proposals such as Castalia could best be approached.