Related papers: Ion Beam Shepherd for Asteroid Deflection
The dynamical behavior of spacecraft around asteroids is a key element in design of such missions. An asteroid's irregular shape, non-spherical mass distribution and its rotational sate make the dynamics of spacecraft quite complex. This…
Low-thrust trajectories play a crucial role in optimizing scientific output and cost efficiency in asteroid belt missions. Unlike high-thrust transfers, low-thrust trajectories require solving complex optimal control problems. This…
Ion transport is an essential operation in some models of quantum information processing, where fast ion shuttling with minimal motional excitation is necessary for efficient, high-fidelity quantum logic. While fast and cold ion shuttling…
A new experimental equipment allowing to study the sputtering induced by ion beam irradiation is presented. The sputtered particles are collected on a catcher which is analyzed in situ by Auger electron spectroscopy without breaking the…
In recent years, nine small near-Earth asteroids were discovered a few hours before the collision with the Earth: these are about one meter in diameter objects that have all disintegrated in the atmosphere, generating bright fireballs…
On 4 January 2007 the author published the article Wireless Transfer of Electricity in Outer Space in http://arxiv.org wherein he offered and researched a new revolutionary method of transferring electric energy in space. In that same…
We focus on preventing collisions between debris and debris, for which there is no current, effective mitigation strategy. We investigate the feasibility of using a medium-powered (5 kW) ground-based laser combined with a ground-based…
Orbit insertion at Saturn requires a large impulsive manoeuver due to the velocity difference between the spacecraft and the planet. This paper presents a strategy to reduce dramatically the hyperbolic excess speed at Saturn by means of…
Reduced traction limits the ability of mobile robotic systems to resist or apply large external loads, such as tugging a massive payload. One simple and versatile solution is to wrap a tether around naturally occurring objects to leverage…
Challenging space mission scenarios include those in low altitude orbits, where the atmosphere creates significant drag to the S/C and forces their orbit to an early decay. For drag compensation, propulsion systems are needed, requiring…
This paper presents a novel approach to the robust design of deflection actions for Near Earth Objects (NEO). In particular, the case of deflection by means of Solar-pumped Laser ablation is studied here in detail. The basic idea behind…
Soft drop, a technique originally developed in the context of jet physics in proton-proton collisions in order to reduce the contamination from non-perturbative effects, is applied to event shapes in electron-positron annihilation. In…
Can one send a wave to bring an object from a distance? The general idea is inspired by the recent success in moving micro particles using light and the development of a tractor beam concept. For fluid surfaces, however, the only known…
Ion beams are used routinely for processing of semiconductors, particularly sputtering, ion implantation and direct-write fabrication of nanostructures. However, the utility of ion beam techniques is limited by crystal damage and surface…
Granular material that is bound by the low gravity of a small asteroid is mobilized by slow velocity impacts. These splashes generated by impacts might play an important role in sculpting the asteroid's surface. In laboratory experiments we…
A chaser satellite equipped with robotic arms can capture space debris and manipulate it for use in more advanced missions such as refueling and deorbiting. To facilitate capturing, a caging-based strategy has been proposed to simplify the…
A novel non-reactive thrust principle based on controlling the angular momentum of a material body is proposed. Theoretically, it is shown that asymmetric emission/absorption of low-energy particle fluxes with spin in a direction…
The quasi-satellite (QS) phenomenon makes two celestial bodies to fly near each other (Mikkola et al. 2006) and that effect can be used also to make artificial satellites move in tandem. We consider formation flight of two or three…
Using a fully autonomous spacecraft - Bering - we propose to detect and study sub-km asteroids from an orbit within the asteroid Main Belt. The main purpose of the proposed Bering mission is to detect a statistically significant sample of…
I calculate the action of a satellite, infalling through dynamical friction, on a coplanar gaseous disk of finite radial extent. The disk tides, raised by the infalling satellite, couple the satellite and disk. Dynamical friction acting on…