Project Design

Astex project has 2 different kinds of Cubesats: the main objective of the first one is to orbit around the Earth in order to receive the information related to the position of Apophis and, furthermore, calculate its trajectory. Due to the importance of this information and to improve the precision of the calculus , there will be 6 cubesats orbiting around planet Earth. The election of 6 cubesats is not random: 3 are used to triangulate the global position of the asteroid, one of the other three is used to solve the inherent problems of the desynchronization caused by the triangulation and the last 2 Cubesats are used to check that almost 4 of the satellites are in a not-shadow zone. This system is so similar to the GPS system. We designated this system as UATS (Universal Asteroid Tracking System).

The second kind of Cubesat is destinated to intercept Apophis and to send the information related to its position (this Cubesat will be stacked on the asteroid’s surface, thus it will have the Apophis’ orbit). This satellite will be joined to a bigger structure, which will consist in:

- Microwave sensor: it will calculate the distance between the Cubesat and Apophis with the purpose of minimize the impact at the moment of the landing, giving information to the other systems of the structure.

- Mini-boosters: there will be 4 mini-boosters, whose function will be stabilize the full structure, reduce the velocity of the Cubesat to approach it to Apophis, compensate the loss of centripetal force caused by the reduction of velocity and keep the structure close to the asteroids’ surface during the process of drilling.

- Drill: this is one of the most important parts of the structure, as both of its functions are directly related to the success of the mission. The first one will be to attach the Cubesat to the Apophis’ surface while the second one will consist in analyzing the chemical composition of the asteroid.

- Landing supports: this kind of articulated legs will be used to soften the impact with the surface.

- Cubesat: it will be the most important part of the full structure, obviously. It will have all the instruments that are necessary to communicate the information about the Apophis’ position and orbit to the Earth by radiofrequency waves and to analyze the chemical composition of the surface.