What We Can Expect to Learn from Robotic Exploration of a Comet Nucleus Surface

Abstract

In situ robotic exploration emphasizing dust identification at the surface of the different comet nucleus environments is the next logical step in comet exploration. Dust in the jets includes presolar dust resembling interplanetary dust particles that are in fact a "poor man's comet dust sampling mission'. The robotic exploration will also encounter relics of the most primitive protoplanets in the size range of big boulders.