The Comet Interceptor Mission.
Geraint H JonesColin SnodgrassCecilia TubianaMichael KüppersHideyo KawakitaLuisa M LaraJessica AgarwalNicolas AndréNicholas AttreeUli AusterStefano BagnuloMichele BannisterArnaud BethNeil BowlesAndrew J CoatesLuigi ColangeliCarlos Corral van DammeVania Da DeppoJohan De KeyserVincenzo Della CorteNiklas EdbergMohamed Ramy El-MaarrySara FaggiMarco FulleRyu FunaseMarina GalandCharlotte GoetzOlivier GroussinAurélie Guilbert-LepoutrePierre HenriSatoshi KasaharaAkos KereszturiMark KidgerMatthew M KnightRosita KokotanekovaIvana KolmašováKonrad KossackiEkkehard KührtYuna G KwonFiorangela La ForgiaAnny-Chantal Levasseur-RegourdManuela LippiAndrea LongobardoRaphael MarschallMarek MorawskiOlga MuñozAntti NäsiläHans NilssonCyrielle OpitomMihkel PajusaluAntoine PommerolLubomir PrechNicola RandoFrancesco RattiHanna RothkaehlAlessandra RotundiMartin RubinNaoya SakataniJoan Pau SánchezCyril Simon WedlundAnamarija StankovNicolas ThomasImre TothGeronimo L VillanuevaJean-Baptiste VincentMartin VolwerkPeter WurzArno WieldersKazuo YoshiokaKonrad AleksiejukFernando AlvarezCarine AmorosShahid AslamBarbara AtamaniukJędrzej BaranTomasz BarcińskiThomas BeckThomas BehnkeMartin BerglundIvano BertiniMarcin BiedaPiotr BinczykMartin-Diego BuschAndrei CacoveanMaria Teresa CapriaChristopher CarrJosé María Castro MarínMatteo CeriottiPaolo ChioettoAgata Chuchra-KonradLorenzo CocolaFabrice ColinChiaki CrewsVictoria CrippsEmanuele CupidoAlberto DassattiBjörn J R DavidssonThierry De RocheJan DecaSimone Del TognoFrederik DhoogheKerri Donaldson HannaAnders I ErikssonAndrey FedorovEstela Fernández-ValenzuelaStefano FerrettiJohan FloriotFabio FrassettoJesper FredrikssonPhilippe GarnierDorota GawełVincent GénotThomas GerberKarl-Heinz GlassmeierMikael GranvikBenjamin GrisonHerbert GunellTedjani HachemiChristian HagenRajkumar HajraYuki HaradaJohann HasibaNico HaslebacherMiguel Luis Herranz De La RevillaDaniel HestrofferTilak HewagamaCarrie HoltStubbe HviidIaroslav IakubivskyiLaura InnoPatrick G J IrwinStavro IvanovskiJiri JanskyIrmgard JernejHarald JeszenszkyJaime JimenézLaurent JordaMihkel KamaShingo KamedaMichael S P KelleyKamil KlepackiTomáš KohoutHirotsugu KojimaTomasz KowalskiMasanari KuwabaraMichal LadnoGunter LakyHelmut LammerRadek LanBenoit LavraudMonica LazzarinOlivier Le DuffQiu-Mei LeeCezary LesniakZoe LewisZhong-Yi LinTim A ListerStephen LowryWerner MagnesJohannes MarkkanenIgnacio Martinez NavajasZita MartinsAyako MatsuokaBarbara MatyjasiakChristian MazelleE Mazzotta EpifaniMirko MeierHarald MichaelisMarco MicheliAlessandra MiglioriniAude-Lyse MilletFernando MorenoStefano MottolaBruno MoutounaickKarri MuinonenDaniel R MüllerGo MurakamiNaofumi MurataKamil MyszkaShintaro NakajimaZoltan NemethArtiom NikolajevSimone NorderaDan OhlssonAire OleskHarald OttacherNaoya OzakiChristophe OziolManish R PatelAditya Savio PaulAntti PenttiläClaudio PernecheleJoakim PetersonEnrico PetraglioAlice Maria PiccirilloFerdinand PlaschkeSzymon PolakFrançois PouletHerman ProosaSilvia ProtopapaWalter PuccioSylvain RanvierSean N RaymondIngo RichterMartin RiederRoberto RigamontiIrene Ruiz RodriguezOndřej SantolíkTakahiro SasakiRolf SchrödterKatherine A ShirleyAndris SlavinskisBalint SodorJan SoucekPeter StephensonLinus StöckliPaweł SzewczykGabor TroznaiLudek UhlirNaoto UsamiAris ValavanoglouJakub VaverkaWei WangXiao-Dong WangGaëtan WattieauxMartin WieserSebastian WolfHajime YanoIchiro YoshikawaVladimir ZakharovTomasz ZawistowskiPaola ZuppellaGiovanna RinaldiHantao JiPublished in: Space science reviews (2024)
Here we describe the novel, multi-point Comet Interceptor mission. It is dedicated to the exploration of a little-processed long-period comet, possibly entering the inner Solar System for the first time, or to encounter an interstellar object originating at another star. The objectives of the mission are to address the following questions: What are the surface composition, shape, morphology, and structure of the target object? What is the composition of the gas and dust in the coma, its connection to the nucleus, and the nature of its interaction with the solar wind? The mission was proposed to the European Space Agency in 2018, and formally adopted by the agency in June 2022, for launch in 2029 together with the Ariel mission. Comet Interceptor will take advantage of the opportunity presented by ESA's F-Class call for fast, flexible, low-cost missions to which it was proposed. The call required a launch to a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth L2 point. The mission can take advantage of this placement to wait for the discovery of a suitable comet reachable with its minimum Δ V capability of 600 ms - 1 . Comet Interceptor will be unique in encountering and studying, at a nominal closest approach distance of 1000 km, a comet that represents a near-pristine sample of material from the formation of the Solar System. It will also add a capability that no previous cometary mission has had, which is to deploy two sub-probes - B1, provided by the Japanese space agency, JAXA, and B2 - that will follow different trajectories through the coma. While the main probe passes at a nominal 1000 km distance, probes B1 and B2 will follow different chords through the coma at distances of 850 km and 400 km, respectively. The result will be unique, simultaneous, spatially resolved information of the 3-dimensional properties of the target comet and its interaction with the space environment. We present the mission's science background leading to these objectives, as well as an overview of the scientific instruments, mission design, and schedule.