[1][2][3][4] The concept was developed in response to the 2019 NASA call for potential missions in the Discovery-class,[5] and it would have been the first spacecraft encounter with a Centaur and the first orbital exploration of a small body in the outer Solar System.

Many Centaurs eventually migrate into the inner Solar System to become short period, 'Jupiter Family' comets (JFCs),[6] and SW1 is believed to occupy the orbital ‘gateway’ through which they pass as they make this transition.

[7] SW1’s characteristics are a chimeric combination of icy small bodies at different points along their evolution from the fringes of the Solar System to active comets passing near the Sun.

Over a more than two year orbital encounter, Chimera would sample the escaping gas coma of SW1, study its patterns of activity and outburst, map the composition and topography of its surface, probe its interior, and monitor for changes as it evolves.

Similar to other Centaurs with surrounding rings and shrouds of debris (e.g. 10199 Chariklo,[18] 2060 Chiron[19]), SW1's nucleus is obscured by an extensive dust coma that is constantly replenished by a combination of continuous activity and large outbursts.

While the presence of larger coma grains around these objects could pose a hazard during high relative velocity encounters, their environments are benign for spacecraft on much slower orbital trajectories.

Over the subsequent ~2 years, the spacecraft orbit will progress toward lower altitudes to perform intensive study of regions of interest, monitor for physical evolution, obtain more precise internal measurements, and to sample the near subsurface.