TU Delft in EU project on manipulation and exploitation of asteroids for a sustainable use of space

Researchers from the Space Engineering department are part of a pan-European research project, which will investigate how to explore and exploit asteroids and make the use of space sustainable. The Stardust Reloaded project was awarded €4 million in European funding through the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Initial Training Networks (ITN) action of the European Union H2020 programme. The project is coordinated by the University of Strathclyde (Scotland). Within the project TU Delft and Dutch space company Hyperion will assess the applicability of autonomous navigation, micro-propulsion and orbital control systems for deep-space CubeSats intended for missions to asteroids. The Grant Agreement with the European Commission has now been signed and the Consortium Agreement is under preparation.

Asteroids and space debris

The Stardust Reloaded project has been funded through the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Initial Training Networks (ITN) action of the European Union H2020 programme. The ITN award, part of the EU’s Horizon2020 research programme, builds on a previous project called Stardust, which kicked-off in 2013 and pioneered new techniques for asteroid and space debris monitoring, removal and deflection. That project exploited, for the first time, the synergies between the communities studying asteroids in and around the solar system, and those studying space debris locally around the Earth.

Stardust Reloaded will take a leap further, to understand the evolution of the space environment around Earth and how the ever-increasing traffic in space can be safely managed to prevent inevitable collisions and allow a sustainable use of space. A necessity for the future that is increasingly reliant on space-based products. The four-year project will also increase our knowledge of the shape, gravity, composition and dynamics of asteroids and comets in view of possible actions to prevent a catastrophic impact with the Earth, and how mineral resources on these celestial minor bodies could be exploited to enhance our exploration of the Solar System.

Young researchers

The Stardust Reloaded consortium is made by 20 partners including the European, French and German space agencies, and will help to fund the work of 15 early-stage career researchers. One of these early stage researchers will be jointly hired by the Aerospace Engineering faculty of TU Delft (under the supervision of Dr. Angelo Cervone) and the company Hyperion Technologies.

The goal of Stardust Reloaded is to conduct cutting edge research by training young researchers with skills that go far above the norm, ranging from entrepreneurial to regulatory, looking forward with leadership skills for their futures and developing educational platforms for the even younger generations to come.  Within this general goal, the project supervised by TU Delft and Hyperion will assess the applicability of autonomous navigation, micro-propulsion and orbital control systems for deep-space CubeSats intended for missions to asteroids.

Dr. Cervone says: “These EU funding opportunities are extremely competitive, with a current success rate of approximately 6-7%. We are proud to be active part of a strong European consortium who has been successful in this funding scheme. This clearly shows the quality of the project and the prestige of the partners involved, including TU Delft and the Aerospace Engineering faculty.”

More information:

Angelo Cervone: +31 15 27 85326, A.Cervone@tudelft.nl