Mirko Trisolini, MSCA Researcher at DAER.
The Politecnico di Milano is coordinator of the European CRADLE (Collecting Asteroid-Orbiting Samples) project.
The project, carried out in collaboration with JAXA: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Università degli Studi di Padova, and D-Orbit aims to investigate novel mission concept for asteroid exploration and sample collection missions. The project leverages the heritage of JAXA’s mission Hyabausa2 to develop a methodology for in-orbit sample collection, without having to land or touch down: fragments are generated impacting the asteroid with a projectile and then collected while they move around the asteroid.
