Energetic Techniques For Planetary Defense
Abstract
Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are asteroids and comets whose heliocentric orbits tend to approach or cross Earth's heliocentric orbit. NEOs of various sizes periodically collide with Earth, and efforts are currently underway to discover, track, and characterize NEOs so that those on Earth-impacting trajectories are discovered far enough in advance that we would have opportunities to deflect or destroy them prior to Earth impact, if warranted. We will describe current efforts by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to assess options for energetic methods of deflecting or destroying hazardous NEOs. These methods include kinetic impactors, which are spacecraft designed to collide with an NEO and thereby alter the NEO's trajectory, and nuclear engineering devices, which are used to rapidly vaporize a layer of NEO surface material. Depending on the amount of energy imparted, this can result in either deflection of the NEO via alteration of its trajectory, or robust disruption of the NEO and dispersal of the remaining fragments. We have studied the efficacies and limitations of these techniques in simulations, and have combined the techniques with corresponding spacecraft designs and mission designs. From those results we have generalized planetary defense mission design strategies and drawn conclusions that are applicable to a range of plausible scenarios. We will present and summarize our research efforts to date, and describe approaches to carrying out planetary defense missions with energetic NEO deflection or disruption techniques.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017AGUFMNH13A0104B
- Keywords:
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- 4333 Disaster risk analysis and assessment;
- NATURAL HAZARDS;
- 4339 Disaster mitigation;
- NATURAL HAZARDS;
- 6022 Impact phenomena;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: COMETS AND SMALL BODIES;
- 6205 Asteroids;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS