[FPSPACE] Europe plans an asteroid sample grab mission called Marco Polo

[LARRY KLAES]

Europe plans asteroid sample grab

By Jonathan Amos

Science reporter, BBC News

Marco Polo is one of a number of competing ideas

European scientists and engineers are working on a potential new mission to 
bring back material from an asteroid.

The venture, known as Marco Polo, could launch in the next decade, and would 
be designed to learn more about how our Solar System evolved.

The plan is to select a small asteroid - less than 1km across - near Earth 
and send a spacecraft there to drill for dust and rubble for analysis.

Mission plans are being worked on by UK Astrium and OHB in Germany.

Both satellite manufacturers have been asked to undertake a feasibility 
study, to assess the type of spacecraft architecture that would be needed to 
carry out the project.

A final decision on whether to approve the mission will be made by the 
European Space Agency (Esa) in a few years' time. The mission would launch 
towards the end of the next decade, in about 2017

Full article plus animation here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7623411.stm