Andres Galvez

AIDA: Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment

The Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA) mission is a kinetic impactor experiment to demonstrate asteroid impact hazard mitigation by deflecting an asteroid. AIDA is an international cooperation between NASA and ESA, consisting of two mission elements: the NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission and the ESA Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM) rendezvous mission. The primary goals of AIDA are (i) to demonstrate the kinetic impact technique on a potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroid and (ii) to measure and characterize the deflection caused by the impact. The AIDA target will be the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos, with the deflection experiment to occur in September, 2022. The DART impact on the secondary member of the binary at ~7 km/s will alter the binary orbit period, which can be measured by Earth-based observatories. The AIM spacecraft will characterize the asteroid target and monitor results of the impact in situ at Didymos. AIDA will return fundamental new information on the mechanical response and impact cratering process at real asteroid scales, and consequently on the collisional evolution of asteroids with implications for planetary defence, human spaceflight, and near-Earth object science and resource utilization. AIDA will return unique information on an asteroids strength, surface physical properties and internal structure. Supporting Earth-based optical and radar observations, numerical simulation studies and laboratory experiments will be an integral part of AIDA.

PAVING THE WAY FOR AN EFFECTIVE DEFLECTION MISSION: STATE OF THE ART NEO PRECURSOR MISSIONS

In the event of the detection of an asteroid in a collision course with the Earth, numerous efforts would be made to gather as much data as possible on the hazardous object before an effective fully-fledged deflection mission can be developed. In the same way as ground and space–based telescopes will certainly be used towards this goal, a mission to collect in-situ information on the asteroid properties and to test the technologies required to perform the deflection will be mandatory. Such mission should be largely based on already existing space technology and /or hardware at time of asteroid threat detection (with the few exceptions of any novel technologies that being necessary to perform the asteroid deflection need to be tested for the first time), in order to reduce technological risk and enable the shortest possible development time. The mission proposed in this paper, which has been called Don Quijote, will consist of two spacecraft, which would be injected into separate interplanetary trajectories by the same Soyuz launch vehicle. The first spacecraft, called Hidalgo, would impact on the asteroid at a relative speed of at least 10 km/s. A second spacecraft, called Sancho, would have previously performed a rendezvous manoeuvre with the asteroid and would remain in orbit about it, observing the impact and analysing any changes in the asteroid internal structure, shape, orbit and rotation state as a consequence of the collision. The objectives of the mission would be to determine the asteroid internal structure, to constraint its mechanical properties, to determine the feasibility of coupling devices onto its surface and measure the orbital deflection of the asteroid as a result of the impact of the Hidalgo spacecraft. As an illustration of the mission concept and its versatility, a candidate mission has been selected considering one of the proposed DEFT, Athos, with optimum spacecraft masses and delta-v, compatible with the asteroid detection and estimated Earth impact date. Hidalgo arrival at Athos on 2012 would take place more than four years before the Earth impact, that could be time enough to allow the adaptation of a second mission -according to Don Quijote mission results - in order to enable an optimal asteroid deflection

GNC Design for Asteroid Orbit Modification Missions

This paper shows the GNC design process for a mission aiming to find, approach andmodify the orbit of a small asteroid. A large number of such bodies are orbiting the Sun in our Solar System, and some of them might become a real threat for the Earth during next few decades. While the size of the asteroid, besides its orbit, greatly determines the attention that should be given to any specific body, it is also necessary to start developing the concepts and technologies required to face these kind of challenges. For this purpose, these small asteroids represent a good training opportunity, since they allow testing the intended orbit modification principles with reasonable mission/system needs and with no impact risk for the Earth.

The Near-Earth Object Impact Hazard: Space Mission Priorities for Risk Assessment and Reduction

In July 2002 the general studies programme of the European Space Agendy (ESA) provided funding for preliminary studies of six space missions that could make significant contributions to our knowledge of near-Earth objects. Following the completion and presentation of these studies, the ESA Near-Earth Object Mission Advisory Panel (NEOMAP) was established in January 2004. NEOMAP was charged with the task of advising ESA on the most effective options for ESA participation in a space mission to contribute to our unterstanding of the physical nature of near-Earth asteroids and the terrestrial impact hazard. This paper summarizes the final recommendations of the panel. The text is from the Executive Summary of the original NEOMAP Report to ESA. The complete report can be downloaded from: http://www.esa.int/gsp/NEO/other.htm.