2012A&A...548A..63C

We investigated the physical properties and dynamical evolution of near-Earth asteroid (NEA) (190491) 2000 FJ₁₀ in order to assess the suitability of this accessible NEA as a space mission target. Photometry and colour determination were carried out with the 1.54m Kuiper Telescope (Mt Bigelow, USA) and the 10m Southern African Large Telescope (SALT; Sutherland, South Africa) during the object's recent favourable apparition in 2011-12. During the earlier 2008 apparition, a spectrum of the object in the 6000-9000 Angstrom region was obtained with the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope (WHT; Canary Islands, Spain). Interpretation of the observational results was aided by numerical simulations of 1000 dynamical clones of 2000 FJ₁₀ up to 10⁶yr in the past and in the future. The asteroid's spectrum and colours determined by our observations suggest a taxonomic classification within the S-complex although other classifications (V, D, E, M, P) cannot be ruled out. On this evidence, it is unlikely to be a primitive, relatively unaltered remnant from the early history of the solar system and thus a low priority target for robotic sample return. Our photometry placed a lower bound of 2h to the asteroid's rotation period. Its absolute magnitude was estimated to be 21.54±0.1 which, for a typical S-complex albedo, translates into a diameter of 130±20m. Our dynamical simulations show that it has likely been an Amor for the past 10⁵yr. Although currently not Earth-crossing, it will likely become so during the period 50-100kyr in the future. It may have arrived from the inner or central main belt >1Myr ago as a former member of a low-inclination S-class asteroid family. Its relatively slow rotation and large size make it a suitable destination for a human mission. We show that ballistic Earth-190491-Earth transfer trajectories with ΔV<2km/s at the asteroid exist between 2052 and 2061.