Enhancing Close-Proximity Asteroid Missions: The Role of Spacecraft Autonomy

Asteroid exploration is rapidly advancing, but challenges such as uncertainties, communication delays, and high costs complicate missions in close proximity to these bodies. Autonomy offers robust solutions for real-time decision-making, though it is not always ideal for platforms with limited capabilities, like CubeSats. This study uses the MuSCAT simulator to model the 6U DROID spacecraft mission near asteroid (99942) Apophis, focusing on attitude and orbital estimation and control, while considering different orbital distances and thrusting errors. The work identifies a one-day interval between trajectory correction maneuvers as a practical limit to avoid the need for autonomy and aims to determine when autonomy becomes necessary for efficient asteroid missions.