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Planetary Defense: Options for Deflection of Near Earth ObjectsSeveral recent near-miss encounters with asteroids and comets have focused attention on the threat of a catastrophic impact with the Earth. This document reviews the historical impact record and current understanding of the number and location of Near Earth Objects (NEO’s) to address their impact probability. Various ongoing projects intended to survey and catalog the NEO population are also reviewed.

Details are then given of an MSFC-led study, intended to develop and assess various candidate systems for protection of the Earth against NEO’s. An existing program, used to model the NEO threat, was extensively modified and is presented here. Details of various analytical tools, developed to evaluate the performance of proposed technologies for protection against the NEO threat, are also presented. Trajectory tools, developed to model the outbound path a vehicle would take to intercept or rendezvous with a target asteroid or comet, are described. Also, details are given of a tool that was created to model both the un-deflected inbound path of an NEO as well as the modified, post-deflection, path.

The number of possible options available for protection against the NEO threat was too numerous for them to all be addressed within the study; instead, a representative selection were modeled and evaluated. The major output from this work was a novel process by which the relative effectiveness of different threat mitigation concepts can be evaluated during future, more detailed, studies. In addition, several new or modified mathematical models were developed to analyze various proposed protection systems. A summary of the major lessons learned during this study is presented, as are recommendations for future work.

It is hoped that this study will serve to raise the level attention about this very real threat and also demonstrate that successful defense is both possible and practicable, provided appropriate steps are taken.
Document ID
20030067577
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
R B Adams
(Marshall Space Flight Center Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, United States)
G Statham
(ERC Huntsville, Alabama, United States)
R Hopkins
(Marshall Space Flight Center Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, United States)
J Chapman
(Marshall Space Flight Center Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, United States)
S White
(ERC Huntsville, Alabama, United States)
J Bonometti
(Marshall Space Flight Center Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, United States)
R Alexander
(Marshall Space Flight Center Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, United States)
S Fincher
(Marshall Space Flight Center Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, United States)
T Polsgrove
(Marshall Space Flight Center Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, United States)
M Kalkstein
(Marshall Space Flight Center Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, United States)
Date Acquired
September 7, 2013
Publication Date
July 20, 2003
Publication Information
Publication: 39th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit
Publisher: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Report/Patent Number
AIAA-2003-4694
Meeting Information
Meeting: 39th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit
Location: Huntsville, AL
Country: US
Start Date: July 20, 2003
End Date: July 23, 2003
Sponsors: American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Society For Engineering Education, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Society of Automotive Engineers International
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
Planets
Potentially Hazardous Asteroids
Marshall Space Flight Center
Mathematical Models
Propulsion System
Impact Crater
Orbital Elements
Projectiles
Solar Collectors
Kinetic Energy
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