School of Aerospace Engineering

Gebhardt Distinguished Lecture

 

 

Asteroid Exploration: Recent Missions and Future Plans 

 

featuring

 

Daniel J. Scheeres 

University of Colorado Distinguished Professor 
 A. Richard Seebass Endowed Chair in the Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences

 

Thursday, October 9
11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Guggenheim 442

 

About the Seminar: 
About the The exploration of asteroids using spacecraft is driven by scientific questions about the early solar system, long-term goals of utilizing asteroid resources in space, and the protection of the planet from hazardous asteroid impacts. Motivated by these concerns, there have been many missions to asteroids over the last few decades, with each one discovering new details about these bodies that further motivate their exploration while identifying new technologies that are needed to continue our progress. Despite past success, there still remain significant challenges across a range of scientific and technical issues associated with asteroid exploration. Several recent missions have opened up new possibilities for their exploration, and some current and planned missions will continue our progress in the exploration and characterization of these bodies. These missions, both from NASA and from international agencies, are pushing boundaries by exploring new classes of asteroids and improving our ability to interact with them. This talk will introduce the motivations for exploring asteroids, discuss recent progress made by a range of missions to these bodies, and outline the future exploration of asteroids and identify what new questions can and are being pursued.   

 

About the Speaker:

Daniel J. Scheeres is a University of Colorado Distinguished Professor and holds the A. Richard Seebass Endowed Chair in the Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences.  Prior to this he held faculty positions at the University of Michigan and Iowa State, and was a senior member of the technical staff at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Scheeres is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the International Academy of Astronautics, a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and of the American Astronautical Society. Asteroid 8887 is named “Scheeres” to recognize his contributions to the scientific understanding of the dynamical environment about asteroids.