APOSSUM – Asteroid Payload for Obtaining, Storing, and Sample return with Utility Module for the PRIAMOS mission

Kurzfassung

The proposed PRIAMOS (PRImordial Asteroid Mission to understand the Origin of the Solar system) mission aims to revolutionize our understanding of the solar system’s formation by returning a pristine sample from a D-type asteroid. PRIAMOS would be the first European-led sample return mission. The scientific analyses of the returned sample will allow the determination of the nature of primordial materials of the solar system, test the modern view of the solar system evolution including an early giant planet instability, and constrain the importance of outer solar system materials as a potential source of water and other volatiles to Earth. The total sample mass needed to address the scientific objectives, for public display, and for long term curation and future analysis is 22 g. The detailed mission concept is presented at this meeting by Marschall et al.