APIES

© EADS Astrium

APIES is a mission concept for using a flotilla of spacecraft to study asteroids in the main belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It is based on the novel idea of releasing a 'swarm' of 19 very small Belt Explorer (BEE) satellites from a mothership, the Hub and Interplanetary VEhicle (HIVE). Attached to the HIVE during launch and transit, once in the main asteroid belt, the BEEs detach and form a circular 'net around 45 million kilometres across, with the HIVE at the centre. As an asteroid passes through this net (calculated at a rate of about one asteroid every few weeks), the nearest BEE positions itself to fly by at a distance of a mere 20 kilometres from the asteroid, taking measurements of its mass, density and surface properties, data which is then relayed back to Earth via the HIVE. Potentially 100 asteroids could be studied in this way over the planned six-year mission lifetime. A highly challenging aspect of the mission is the degree of autonomy necessary for the BEEs, as each BEE will need to be able to adjust its position and pointing in relation to the positions of all the other BEEs in the constellation and of incoming asteroids.

APIES data will contribute to better understanding the similarities and differences in these asteroids, which are believed to be the remnants of planets that failed to form.

EADS Astrium is leading the APIES mission study, which as yet has no launch date.