Calathus Mission Explained

Calathus is a proposed student-designed Ceres sample-return mission, that would consist of an orbiter and a lander with an ascent module. The orbiter would be equipped with a camera, a thermal imager, and a radar; the lander will have a sampling arm, a camera, and a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer. Mission objective is to return maximum of Ceresian soil.^[1] The mission was designed and proposed in 2018 with support of ESA.^[2]

Spacecraft should take samples from Occator Crater,^[2] that was studied and photographed by NASA's Dawn. The objectives are:^[2]

• to understand whether Ceres contains the ingredients for life
• to understand where Ceres was formed
• to understand whether asteroids like Ceres were responsible for delivering water and organics to Earth

Further reading

• The Calathus Mission. Alpbach Summer School .
• SAMPLE RETURN FROM A RELIC OCEAN WORLD: THE CALATHUS MISSION TO OCCATOR CRATER, CERES. . 51st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2020) . 2021 .

Notes and References

1. Gassot . Oriane . Calathus: A sample-return mission to Ceres . Acta Astronautica . April 2021 . 181 . 112–129 . 10.1016/j.actaastro.2020.12.050. 2021AcAau.181..112G . 10141/622884 . 234121413 . free .
2. Web site: The Calathus Mission Concept to Occator Crater at Ceres: Science, Operations and Systems Design . ESA.