Satellite mission selected to explore binary asteroid

June 20, 2019

BOULDER —A team led by CU Boulder landed a coveted finalist spot in a new NASA program that will launch small satellites into space to explore the origins and evolution of the solar system. The CU Boulder group has proposed a mission that will send two of these miniature craft to rendezvous with and study a target binary asteroid, a pair of asteroids that revolve around each other in close proximity.

The selected missions have a maximum budget of $55 million, and NASA plans to launch at least one of the three finalists into space.

Daniel Scheeres, a professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, will lead the new mission, which is called Janus: Reconnaissance Missions to Binary Asteroids.

Members of the CU Boulder team are also co-investigators on NASA's ongoing OSIRIS-REx mission to study the asteroid Bennu.

Jay McMahon, an assistant professor in aerospace engineering and a member of the Janus team, and Bobby Braun, dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science, are available for interviews on today's selection.