ESA M8 Heavy Metal

In short Heavy Metal aims to explore the large metallic contact binary asteroid (216) Kleopatra and its 2 known moons, possibly continuing to 1-2 other metallic asteroids after a detailed orbit investigation of (216) Kleopatra.

Heavy Metal will give detailed information regarding the complex formation processes that were active during the early epochs of our solar system.

We believe the large metallic M-class main belt asteroid (216) Kleopatra and its two moons (Alexhelios and Cleoselene) may hold the key to many fundamental questions regarding these early processes.

Metal-rich M-class asteroids are, in this respect, extremely important because:They are building blocks of planet formation, particularly their iron cores.They can provide information about the interior of terrestrial planets, including Earth and Mars.They may show the exposed nuclei of a differentiated body, which otherwise could not be observed directly.They are likely to be significantly magnetized, with a structure that may resemble an original small body dynamo, and therefore today form mini magnetospheres interacting with the solar wind.The international Heavy Metal science community therefore would like to propose a reduced variant of the mission for the ESA M8 call.

There are also new technology implementations that can be used since the last M7 proposal.