Geodesy of Small Bodies: From Gravitation to Interior Structure

22 August 2023

Dr. rer. nat. Thomas Andert von der Professur für Raumfahrttechnik hat bei der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft das Projekt "Geodesy of Small Bodies: From Gravitation to Interior Structure" eingeworben.

Laufzeit: 01.04.2023 bis 31.03.2026
Fördergeber: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft e. V. (DFG) – Emmy Noether-Programm

The proposed research aims to improve spacecraft orbit determination (OD) and gravitational field estimation for small bodies. The key to such an improvement lies in utilizing state-of-the-art modeling techniques and multi-instrument measurements to characterize the spacecraft perturbations, especially nongravitational effects that may rival or even drown out the body’s weak gravitation. The focus here are active bodies which have been amply observed and encountered and for which the gas/dust coma dynamics present fresh challenges that have become unavoidable. Here, we study 67P using Rosetta data that offer the most comprehensive and detailed view of a comet or arguably of any small body.

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