  Asteroids are remnants of the material from which the Solar System formed.
Fragments of asteroids, in the form of meteorites, include samples of the first
solid matter to form in our Solar System 4.5 mia years ago. Spectroscopic
studies of asteroids show that they, like the meteorites, range from very
primitive objects to highly evolved small Earth-like planets that
differentiated into core mantle and crust. The asteroid belt displays
systematic variations in abundance of asteroid types from the more evolved
types in the inner belt to the more primitive objects in the outer reaches of
the belt thus bridging the gap between the inner evolved apart of the Solar
System and the outer primitive part of the Solar System. High-speed collisions
between asteroids are gradually resulting in their break-up. The size
distribution of kilometer-sized asteroids implies that the presently
un-detected population of sub-kilometer asteroids far outnumber the known
larger objects. Sub-kilometer asteroids are expected to provide unique insight
into the evolution of the asteroid belt and to the meteorite-asteroid
connection. We propose a space mission to detect and characterize sub-kilometer
asteroids between Jupiter and Venus. The mission is named Bering after the
famous navigator and explorer Vitus Bering. A key feature of the mission is an
advanced payload package, providing full on board autonomy of both object
detection and tracking, which is required in order to study fast moving objects
in deep space. The autonomy has the added advantage of reducing the cost of
running the mission to a minimum, thus enabling science to focus on the main
objectives.
