THE MARCOPOLO-R SAMPLE RETURN MISSION :TRACING THE ORIGINS
B. Marty1 on behalf of the MP-R Science Team: M.A. Barucci2,P. Michel3, H. Böhnhardt4, J.R. Brucato5, E. Dotto6, P.
Ehrenfreund7, I.A. Franchi8, S. F. Green8, L.-M. Lara9, D.
Koschny10, D. Agnolon10, R. Chalex10, J. Romstedt10, and P.
Martin11
1

CRPG-CNRS, Nancy, France (bmarty@crpg.cnrs-nancy.fr), 2
LESIA-Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, F, 3 Univ. Nice, CNRS,OCA, F, 4 MPS, Katlenburg-Lindau, D, 5 INAF-Obs. of Arcetri,I, 6 INAF-Obs. of Roma, I, 7 Univ. of Leiden, NL, 8 Open Univ.,
Milton Keynes, UK, 9 IAA-CSIC, Granada, E, 10 ESTEC, ESA,NL, 11 ESAC, ESA, ES
Outine: MarcoPolo-R is a sample return mission to aprimitive Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) selected for a second
Assessment Study Phase in the framework of ESA’s Cosmic
Vision (CV) programme. The new assessment study, started at
ESA on May 2011, will continue until the end of 2013, when
ESA will finally select the M3 class mission at the beginning of2014. MarcoPolo-R is a European-led mission with a possible
contribution from other agencies. MarcoPolo-R will rendez-vouswith a primitive NEA, scientifically characterize it at multiple
scales, and return a unique sample to Earth unaltered by theatmospheric entry process or terrestrial weathering.
The key science goals that will be addressed by MarcoPolo-R
are: What was the astrophysical setting of the birth of the Solar
System? What is the origin of material in the early Solar Systemand how did it evolve? What are the physical properties andevolution of the building blocks of terrestrial planets? How doorganics in primitive NEAs relate to the origin of life on Earth?
Asteroids also represent both a potentially rich resource for
future space exploration and a threat to the very existence ofhumankind on Earth. MarcoPolo-R will allow characterization ofa member of the population of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids(PHAs), which is of high interest for mitigation studies. It will
return bulk samples from an organic-rich primitive asteroid to
Earth for laboratory analyses, allowing us to explore the origin ofplanetary materials and initial stages of habitable planetformation.
Target: 2008 EV5, with a diameter of about 400 m (Busch etal. 2011, Icarus 212, 649), has a moderate albedo (0.10-0.12)
compared with the low values for other primitive objects to bevisited by sample return missions (NASA OSIRIS-REx, JAXA
Hayabusa 2). The spectrum is typical of primitive C-type asteroids
and shows a spectral feature at 0.48 micron, which is a signature of
the presence of alteration minerals with similarity to the CI
meteorite Orgueil (Reddy et al. 2012, Icarus 221, 678). Therefore it
is likely that this body is particularly primitive in nature, hasaccreted in a volatile-rich region, and may represent a transitional
object between comets and asteroids.
Mission scenario: The complete mission (round-trip) will last
4.5 years with optimal launch windows in 2022-24. A single
primary spacecraft, carrying the Earth re-entry capsule and sample
acquisition and transfer system, will be launched by a Soyuz-Fregat
rocket from Kourou. The spacecraft will proceed to the in-situ
characterization to investigate the internal structure of a NEA,
which is of high relevance for mitigation studies. Samples returnedin 2027-9 will be handled by a Europe-led consortium that will
include leading international scientists and facilities.