DESTINY+
A planned flyby of the rocky asteroid that feeds the Geminid meteor shower.
Key facts
- Agency
- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
- Type of mission
- Asteroid flyby
- Target
- Asteroid 3200 Phaethon, parent of the Geminid meteor shower
- Launched
- Planned for 2028
- Status
- In development
Most meteor showers come from comets: icy bodies that shed dust as they warm near the Sun. The Geminids, one of the richest showers of the year each December, are different. Their parent is 3200 Phaethon, an asteroid about 5 kilometres across that looks rocky rather than icy.
Phaethon passes closer to the Sun than any other named asteroid, at about 0.14 times Earth's distance, where its surface heats to around 750 °C. Scientists think that heating cracks its rocks and releases dust, and that it may be the burnt-out remains of a comet. Phaethon has been called a rock comet.
The plan
DESTINY+ is designed to test new technology for low-cost deep-space missions, including electric propulsion, and then to fly past Phaethon at a distance of a few hundred kilometres, photographing its surface. On the way and at Phaethon it will collect dust with an instrument built in Germany, which can measure the speed, direction and chemistry of each grain it catches. Some of that dust may be Geminid particles, and some may come from between the stars.
Why it matters to meteorites
Meteor showers almost never drop meteorites, because their particles are small and fragile. A close look at Phaethon and its dust will show what the Geminids are made of, and help explain how an asteroid can produce a meteor shower at all.
Key dates
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2028 | Planned launch on an H3 rocket. |
See where this mission fits among all the others in the mission timeline.
Did you know?
Phaethon is named after a son of the Sun god in Greek myth who drove his father's chariot too close to the Earth.
The Geminids are the only major meteor shower known to come from an asteroid rather than a comet, apart from the Quadrantids, whose parent may be a dead comet.