The Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby project

The Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby (CRAF) spacecraft will be provided by the first Mariner Mark II (MMII). The MMII is a modular spacecraft which can be inexpensively reconfigured for different missions beyond the inner solar system. The rationale for a comet rendezvous mission are discussed, taking into account the probability that comets alone retain evidence of the chemical and physical conditions under which all solar system bodies were formed. A description of the rationale for the study of asteroids on the Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby Mission is also presented. On its way to the rendezvous with a comet, the spacecraft will fly by one or more asteroids. It is assumed that the target asteroids will include moderately large main-belt objects several tens to perhaps 100 kilometers in diameter. Attention is also given to mission details, the spacecraft system, and the missions operations system.