NASA investigates sending CubeSats to Phobos and back

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Triple CubeSat with deploying solar sail (Photo: NASA)

CubeSats could be sent to gather samples from the Martian moon of Phobos (Photo: NASA)

A CubeSat with solar sails could be sent on a mission to the Martian moon Phobos (Image: NASA)

The Interplanetary Superhighway (Image: NASA)

an artists rendition of Montana State University's Explorer-1 [Prime] CubeSat (Image: Montana State University, Space Science and Engineering Laboratory)

A CubeSat design (Image: NASA)

Article Summary

NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts Program provides funding to study a small number of highly advanced spaceflight concepts, with the goal of understanding the technological possibilities which will guide the development of future space missions. Under this program, a JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) researcher has proposed the use of a pair of CubeSats for an autonomous mission to retrieve samples from Phobos, Mars' larger moon.

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