Latest news

March 20, 2019: The Phase-2 NEST proposal for the ESA Call for “Fast” mission opportunity has been submitted

November 23, 2018: The NEST proposal has been admitted to the Phase-2 of the ESA Call for “Fast” mission opportunity

October 25, 2018: The NEST proposal for the ESA Call for “Fast” mission opportunity has been submitted

NEST in a nutshell

A huge degree of diversity in terms of physical properties is present among the NEA population, with composition ranging from siliceous to carbonaceous, from basaltic to metallic. Different compositions, as well as formation histories (collisional disruptions followed by re-aggregation, and fissions in binary system), also imply completely different internal density distributions and material strengths. Hence the investigation of asteroids’ internal structure and surface properties can reveal key information about their formation and evolution, from the condensation in the solar nebula at different heliocentric distances, to the collisional accretion, enhancing our understanding of the mechanisms underlying planetary formation.
The “Near-Earth Space Trekker” (NEST) will rendezvous with different NEAs presenting a variety of physical properties. NEST will perform the first radar measurements ever to reveal the internal structure of asteroids. Complementary in-situ sensing will rely on a small platform carrying a miniaturized instrumentation package, to investigate in detail the targets’ surface and sub-surface physical properties.

NEST: Key Questions

1. Which were the conditions of the protoplanetary disk and which are the mechanisms underlying the formation of terrestrial planets?
2. What are the internal structure and surface properties of asteroids in different size regimes, and how this reflects different formation and early evolution?
3. Which is the nature of the “potentially hazardous asteroid” Apophis, which has multiple potential impact solutions during the course of the next century?