''Camilla'' is a spacecraft and mission concept proposed for NASA’s New Frontiers program. It would be a

centaur A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...

exploration mission, particularly to minor planet 10199 Chariklo. It consists of a flyby craft (''Camilla''), and tungsten impactor (Halbred).

Goals

The goals of this mission would be to understand the formation of centaurs, find if shepherd moons exist around Chariklo, and study the nature of the asteroid's rings formation.

Mission design

The spacecraft would be launched in September 2026, using one gravity assist from

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

in February 2027 and

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

in December 2027 and 2029 to accelerate it out toward

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

. The Jupiter flyby in October 2031 will send it out of the ecliptic toward its Chariklo encounter in January 2039 before continuing to escape the Solar System. The spacecraft would be powered by a Multi-Mission RTG, and would be propelled by

hydrazine Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a simple pnictogen hydride, and is a colourless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odour. Hydrazine is highly hazardous unless handled in solution as, for example, hydraz ...

thrusters. The scientific payload would consist of a tungsten impactor, high quality imaging equipment, spectral scanners, and a sub-millimeter radiometer.

References

{{Asteroid spacecraft Missions to minor planets New Frontiers program proposals