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Journal Articles Acta Astronautica Year : 2021

Calathus: A sample-return mission to Ceres

Giacomo Acciarini
  • Function : Author
Helena Bates
  • Function : Author
Manel Caballero
  • Function : Author
Pamela Cambianica
  • Function : Author
Maciej Dziewiecki
  • Function : Author
Zelia Dionnet
  • Function : Author
Florine Enengl
  • Function : Author
Selina-Barbara Gerig
  • Function : Author
Felix Hessinger
  • Function : Author
Lucy Kissick
  • Function : Author
Moritz Novak
  • Function : Author
Carmine Pellegrino
  • Function : Author
Angèle Pontoni
  • Function : Author
Tânia M. Ribeiro
  • Function : Author
Clemens Riegler
  • Function : Author
Nikolaus Huber
  • Function : Author
Richard Hynek
  • Function : Author
Bartosz Kędziora
  • Function : Author
Adam Kiss
  • Function : Author
Maurice Martin
  • Function : Author
Javier Navarro Montilla
  • Function : Author

Abstract

Ceres, as revealed by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, is an ancient, crater-saturated body dominated by low-albedo clays. Yet, localised sites display a bright, carbonate mineralogy that may be as young as 2 Myr. The largest of these bright regions (faculae) are found in the 92 km Occator Crater, and would have formed by the eruption of alkaline brines from a subsurface reservoir of fluids. The internal structure and surface chemistry suggest that Ceres is an extant host for a number of the known prerequisites for terrestrial biota, and as such, represents an accessible insight into a potentially habitable "ocean world". In this paper, the case and the means for a return mission to Ceres are outlined, presenting the Calathus mission to return to Earth a sample of the Occator Crater faculae for high-precision laboratory analyses. Calathus consists of an orbiter and a lander with an ascent module: the orbiter is equipped with a high-resolution camera, a thermal imager, and a radar; the lander contains a sampling arm, a camera, and an on-board gas chromatograph mass spectrometer; and the ascent module contains vessels for four cerean samples, collectively amounting to a maximum 40 g. Upon return to Earth, the samples would be characterised via high-precision analyses to understand the salt and organic composition of the Occator faculae, and from there to assess both the habitability and the evolution of a relict ocean world from the dawn of the Solar System.
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Dates and versions

insu-03559381 , version 1 (13-02-2023)

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Attribution - NonCommercial

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Oriane Gassot, Paolo Panicucci, Giacomo Acciarini, Helena Bates, Manel Caballero, et al.. Calathus: A sample-return mission to Ceres. Acta Astronautica, 2021, 181, pp.112-129. ⟨10.1016/j.actaastro.2020.12.050⟩. ⟨insu-03559381⟩
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