Comet Rendezvous, Sample Acquisition, Investigation, and Return

CORSAIR (COmet Rendezvous, Sample Acquisition, Investigation, and Return) is a proposed mission designed to collect samples from a comet's nucleus and bring them back to Earth for study. The concept was put forward in May 2017 by a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center team for the fourth New Frontiers mission competition, but it was not chosen in the initial selection round. Since the eventual winner was Dragonfly, a Titan probe, the CORSAIR team may offer the concept again for a later New Frontiers opportunity.

The mission's main aim is to investigate how comets contributed to the formation of planets and life. If it had been developed, CORSAIR would have launched in 2024, spent seven years traveling to comet 88P/Howell (including two gravity assists from Earth), and arrived in May 2031. It would have spent up to 294 days studying the comet, with about 140 days dedicated to detailed physical and chemical characterization of the nucleus and its coma. The return trip to Earth would have taken roughly 4.3 years.

The planned scientific instruments included: the CORSAIR Dual Imaging System (CorDIS) for wide and close-up views of the nucleus; a Japanese-contributed Coma Dust Sampler (CDS) for monitoring and collecting dust from the coma; the CORSAIR Altimetric Laser (CorAL), based on the OSIRIS-REx OLA instrument, for mapping sample site topography and aiding navigation; the CORSAIR Thermal Emission Imaging System (C-THEMIS), derived from Mars Odyssey, to measure thermal inertia and mineral variations on the surface; the CORSAIR Mass Spectrometer (C-MaSt), contributed by Switzerland and based on Rosetta's ROSINA instrument, for analyzing coma gases and volatiles; Proximity Cameras (ProxCams), copies of the OSIRIS-REx TagCams, for close-up navigation and imaging during sampling; and a Radio Science (RS) system to determine the comet's mass. Surface samples would have been collected using a harpoon-like penetrator.