Benjamin hockman
Nasa jet propulsion laboratory
The goal of this effort is to develop a robust and affordable mission Architecture that enables the gravimetric density reconstruction of small body interiors to unprecedened. Our Architecture Relies on the Novel Concept of “Gravity Poppers,” Whoch Are Small, Minimalistic Probes that are deployed to the surface of a small body and a small body and perian “Pop” SO as to Perpetuate A Random hopping motion Around the body. By Tracking a Large Swarm of Poppers from orbit, a mother spacecraft can preachisely estimate their trafficories and continuously refine a high-resolution map of the body of the body, and thus Internal mass distribution. Hopping probes are also also equipped with minimalistic in-sensors to measure the surface temperature (when landed) and strength (when bouncement) in order to compensation to compensation The interior. The phase I study focused on feasibility assessment of three core technologies that enable such a mission: (1) The mechanical design of hopping probes to be small, simple, robust, âVisibleâ Distacecraft, (2) The Tracking Strategy for Detecting and Estimating The Trajectories of a Large Number of Ballistic Probes, and (3) The Algorithmic Framework by which Such Measurements CAN BECE Used Shed Iteuratively refine a gravity model of the body. The key finding was that concept is feasible, and demonstrated to have the potential to resolve extramely accurate gravity models, allowing scientists to localize density anomalies anomalies Large bounders on the surface. This Phase II Proposal Aims to Further Develop these Three Core Technologies Through Continued Mission Trade Studies and Sensitivity Analysis, Case Studies for Simulated Messions, And Hardware ProtyPes Demonstruating bot hopping behavior and tracking performance.
2025 selections
