Deutsch Intern
Professorship for Space Technology

NEAlight

Project Overview

Investigation of small satellite mission ideas to Near Earth Asteroids (NEA) with focus on (99942) Apophis

Artist's impression of (99942) Apophis passing by Earth in 2029, created by J. Männel using Eyes on the Solar System (NASA/JPL)

NEAlight is an investigation to analyze the realization possibilities and challenges of small satellite missions for the exploration of near-Earth asteroids (NEA), in particular the asteroid (99942) Apophis.

Project Start: 01.05.2024

End: 30.04.2025

Funding Code: 50OO2413

Contact:

The asteroid (99942) Apophis, which is approximately 340m in size, will fly by the Earth on April 13, 2029 at a distance of only 6 Earth radii (Link: Animation of the flyby). This near-Earth flyby will provide an almost unique opportunity to study an "Sq-type" asteroid in detail with relatively little effort. Furthermore, due to its size and orbit, the asteroid belongs to the group of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHA). A detailed investigation of its physical properties, its internal structure and the influence of the Earth's gravitational force during its flyby offers a unique data set for asteroid research as well as for planetary defense and the development and evaluation of suitable defensive measures.

As part of NEAlight, three potential concepts for a national small satellite mission to the Near-Earth Asteroid (99942) Apophis are being investigated in depth. The concepts are based on the preliminary results of the SATEX study on the use of small satellites in extraterrestrial applications and the experience of the SONATE-2 mission launched in March 2024. The aim of the investigations is to work out the necessary requirements of the mission scenarios and to define the basic mission architecture as well as the realization possibilities. The concepts will also be used to investigate synergies in the design with perspective small satellite missions to other near-Earth asteroids (NEA) and cislunar missions. The investigation will be carried out at the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Extraterrestrial Studies (IFEX) at the Professorship for Space Technology.

Project Manager:

Team Members:

Student Assistants:

  • A. Amza
  • F. Ali

09.07.2024  DLR blog post on the exploration of Apophis

Credit: Uni Würzburg

In a DLR blog post on the Apophis T-5 workshop, various options for studying the asteroid Apophis were presented, including the CubeSat concept from the University of Würzburg.

Link to the blog post

Link to the post about the poster presentation

­­13.06.2024 DLRK contribution accepted

Credit: DLRG

Our contribution on the preliminary results of NEAlight with the title: Possible applications of small satellites for the exploration of near-Earth asteroids using the example of (99942) Apophis was accepted for the DLRK 2024 in Hamburg, we are looking forward to presenting the interim results there. (presentation language: german)

Link to the lecture program

05.06.2024 EPSC contribution accepted

Credit: EPSC

Our contribution on the possibilities of exploring Apophis with small satellites has been accepted for this year's EPSC conference in Berlin, we are looking forward to presenting the interim results there.

Link to abstract and presentation details