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September 16, 2025

The search for NEOs as potential candidates for use in space missions to Venus and Mars

Key Points

Identified 120 near-Earth object candidates for fast transfers between Earth, Venus, and Mars over the next century.
Only two candidates were found for double transfers involving consecutive approaches to three planets.
Analysis covers over 35,000 NEOs, focusing on potential orbital paths during the timeframe from 2020 to 2120.
Finding multiple transfer candidates may enable more efficient interplanetary missions using NEOs.

Abstract

In this work, we analyzed the orbits of over 35000 (as of 2024) near-Earth objects (NEOs) focusing on the potential for successive approaches to all pairs of planets: Earth, Venus, and Mars during the period from 2020 to 2120. We selected 120 candidates for fast transfers (within 180 days) between the following planet pairs: Earth-Mars, Earth-Venus, Mars-Earth, Mars-Venus, Venus-Earth, and Venus-Mars. We found only two candidates for double transfers (consecutive approaches involving three planets), and 10 candidates for multiple transfers, where an asteroid exhibits several consecutive paired approaches to planets within a century.

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