NEAP

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NEAP ( Near Earth Asteroid Prospector ) is a space probe that was to be planned, built and operated by the private space company SpaceDev . Its launch was scheduled for 2002 as a secondary payload of an Ariane 5 to reach the asteroid (4660) Nereus . NEAP would have weighed approx. 200 kg and should have the shape of a hexagonal prism with two rectangular solar cell wings next to the parabolic antenna mounted on top of the probe body.

NEAP was based on probe plans SpaceDev developed in a study for small Mars missions for the JPL. After the end of the course, SpaceDev developed the NEAP project from the plans. The probe should also drop a lander on the asteroid. In order to make money with the probe, the probe and lander should transport scientific instruments. For this, researchers could apply for funds from NASA. Results of own instruments should also be sold. Jim Benson , the head of SpaceDev, planned to claim the asteroid as possession after landing. However, SpaceDev had financing problems, so that the start with a new goal had to be postponed 3–5 years. According to another source, the launch should have taken place between 2009 and 2011. SpaceDev has since been taken over by another company. The homepage of SpaceDev or the successor company has been on the NEAP website at SpaceDev since 2002. The space probe is unlikely to be built.

See also

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  1. ↑ a b c d NEAP in the Encyclopedia Astronautica , accessed on January 15, 2012 (English).
  2. ↑ a b NASA: Planetary and Lunar Missions Under Consideration ( Memento October 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), accessed: January 14, 2012
  3. ↑ image , accessed: January 15, 2011
  4. ↑ Mark Alpert: Extra-Terrestrial Business Spectrum of Science, Dossier 4/1999 p. 88

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