Open Access

Jan Thimo Grundmann, Waldemar Bauer, Jens Biele, Ralf Boden, Matteo Ceriotti, Federico Cordero, Bernd Dachwald, Etienne Dumont, Christian Grimm, David Herčík, Alain Herique, Tra-Mi Ho, Rico Jahnke, Aaron Koch, Wlodek Kofman, Alexander Koncz, Christian Krause, Caroline Lange, Roy Lichtenheldt, Volker Maiwald, Tobias Mikschl, Eugen Mikulz, Sergio Montenegro, Ivanka Pelivan, Alessandro Peloni, Dirk Plettemeier, Dominik Quantius, Siebo Reershemius, Thomas Renger, Johannes Riemann, Michael Ruffer, Kaname Sasaki, Nicole Schmitz, Wolfgang Seboldt, Patric Seefeldt, Peter Spietz, Tom Spröwitz, Maciej Sznajder, Simon Tardivel, Norbert Toth, Elisabet Wejmo, Friederike Wolff, Christian Ziach

• Physical interaction with small solar system bodies (SSSB) is key for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). The design of mining missions requires good understanding of SSSB properties, including composition, surface and interior structure, and thermal environment. But as the saying goes "If you've seen one asteroid, you've seen one Asteroid": Although some patterns may begin to appear, a stable and reliable scheme of SSSB classification still has to be evolved. Identified commonalities would enable generic ISRU technology and spacecraft design approaches with a high degree of re-use. Strategic approaches require much broader in-depth characterization of the SSSB populations of interest to the ISRU community. The DLR-ESTEC GOSSAMER Roadmap Science Working Groups identified target-flexible Multiple Near-Earth asteroid (NEA) Rendezvous (MNR) as one of the missions only feasible with solar sail propulsion, showed the ability to access any inclination and a wide range of heliocentric distances as well as continuous operation close to Earth's orbit where low delta-v objects reside.