PEANUTS - Probing Evolution of Asteroids aNd Uncovering Traces and Sources - A Proposal to ESA’s Mini-F Call

Kurzfassung

Asteroids are invaluable archives of Solar System history, preserving records of dynamical and compositional evolution across planetary epochs. They provide crucial insights into the processes that shaped planets and the distribution of material in the early Solar System. Despite significant advances from previous and ongoing international missions [1-6], much of this history remains unexplored. Substantial knowledge gaps persist, especially regarding asteroid spectral types that have not yet been explored by spacecraft, including many primitive and differentiated types critical for understanding the full spectrum of Solar System evolution. The PEANUTS mission aims to fill part of this gap by exploring an asteroid of a different spectral type (D-, E-, or Q-type) and smaller in size than those previously explored.