* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Marco Polo mission

Blobrana · L

The European Space Agency is planning an ambitious mission in which an uncrewed robot would land on an asteroid near Earth and extract up to 300 grammes (10.5oz) of dust and rock.
Detailed plans for the Marco Polo mission are being developed at the company's EADS Astrium in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and OHB in Bremen, Germany. If the plans are approved by ESA, the mission could launch in 2017. It would cost around 300m (£236m).

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Blobrana · L

Marco Polo is the name of a mission which would be launched 2017- 2018 to a Near-Earth Object (NEO) and return a sample from it. The mission would be a collaboration with the Japanese space agency JAXA and is named after one of the earliest western people building up good relations between Europe and Asia.

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Blobrana · L

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.

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-- Edited by Blobrana at 10:36, 2008-09-19