We present a concept study for a distinctive robotic spacecraft mission that combines both the exploration of a never-before-visited class of planetary bodies and cutting-edge astrophysical investigations. The planetary targets are a class of objects called Centaurs that have relatively recently escaped from the Kuiper Belt and currently orbit closer to the Sun among the giant planets. We developed a trajectory that would visit several Centaurs, including the second largest known Centaur, 2060 Chiron, which displays enigmatic coma activity at large heliocentric distances and orbiting ring or dust structures. This concept takes advantage of the cruise times between planetary encounters to conduct nearly continuous astrophysical observations at wavelengths that are not accessible by ground-based facilities. Additionally, ride-along cubesats included aboard can be deployed at different points in the mission to perform various experiments or observations. This mission concept achieves its objectives with solar power (MegaFlex arrays), no new technology development, and within the approximate budget of a NASA New Frontiers class mission. The mission design accomplishes its objectives using solar electric propulsion and the recently developed NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) ion engines.

我们提出了一项独特的机器人航天器任务的概念研究，该任务结合了对前所未有的一类行星体的探索和尖端的天体物理学研究。行星目标是一类被称为半人马座的天体，它们最近才逃离柯伊伯带，目前在巨行星中更靠近太阳。我们开发了一条轨迹，可以访问几个半人马座，包括已知的第二大半人马座 2060 凯龙星，它在大的日心距离和轨道环或尘埃结构上显示出神秘的彗发活动。这个概念利用行星相遇之间的巡航时间在地面设施无法访问的波长上进行近乎连续的天体物理观测。此外，随车携带的立方体卫星可以部署在任务的不同点，以进行各种实验或观察。这个任务概念通过太阳能（MegaFlex 阵列）实现其目标，没有新技术开发，并且在 NASA New Frontiers 级任务的大致预算范围内。该任务设计使用太阳能电力推进和最近开发的 NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) 离子发动机来实现其目标。