Related papers: Ion Beam Shepherd for Asteroid Deflection
Asteroid mining offers the possibility to revolutionize supply of resources vital for human civilization. Preliminary analysis suggests that Near-Earth Asteroids (NEA) contain enough volatile and high value minerals to make the mining…
Drag and diffusion of mobile ions in solids are of interest for both purely theoretical and applied scientific communities. This article proposes a theoretical description of ion drag in solids that can be used to estimate ionic…
To date, insect scale robots capable of controlled flight have used flapping wings for generating lift, but this requires a complex and failure-prone mechanism. A simpler alternative is electrohydrodynamic (EHD) thrust, which requires no…
We explore ion escape from, and solar ion deposition to, \hll{an unmagnetized Earth-like planet}. We use RHybrid, an ion-kinetic electron-fluid code to simulate the global plasma interaction of unmagnetized Earth with the solar wind. We…
This work presents a mission concept for in-orbit particle collection for sampling and exploration missions towards Near-Earth asteroids. Ejecta is generated via a small kinetic impactor and two possible collection strategies are…
The paper reports a new electrostatic-confinement based fusion approach, where, a new non-equilibrium distribution function for an ion-beam, compressed by an external electric force, has been derived. This distribution function allows the…
The problem of determining the threshold of motion of a sediment particle resting on the bed of an open channel has historically been dominated by an approach based on the time-space-averaged bed shear stress (i.e. Shields criterion).…
In this paper a direct method based on a transcription by finite elements in time has been used to design optimal interplanetary trajectories, exploiting a combination of gravity assist maneuvers and low-thrust propulsion. A multiphase…
Splitting by atomic bombs an asteroid in flight is the best way to deflect its trajectory. How and when it should be done is described.
The ion beam bunching in a cascaded target normal sheath acceleration is investigated by theoretical analysis and particle-in-cell simulations. It is found that a proton beam can be accelerated and bunched simultaneously by injecting it…
The optimization of low-thrust, multi-revolution orbit transfer trajectories is often regarded as a difficult problem in modern astrodynamics. In this paper, a flexible and computationally efficient approach is presented for the…
We propose a new method to effect heat removal from an object by using a laser beam. The proposed method is based on inelastic scattering of a laser beam from the object and in particular by making the anti-Stokes emission more efficient…
We present a study of an impacting descent probe that increases the science return of spacecraft orbiting or passing an atmosphere-less planetary body of the solar system, such as the Galilean moons of Jupiter. The descent probe is a…
Context: Various ideas have been proposed to explain the formation of the Geminid meteoroid stream from the asteroid (3200) Phaethon. However, little has been studied about the Geminid formation based on the assumption that mass ejection…
We present a computational approach for the design of continuous low thrust transfers around an asteroid. These transfers are computed through the use of a reachability set generated on a lower dimensional Poincar\'e surface. Complex, long…
Purpose: This paper presents a full fourth-order model of the gravity gradient torque of spacecraft around asteroids by taking into consideration of the inertia integrals of the spacecraft up to the fourth order, which is an improvement of…
We define a set of procedures to numerically study the fate of ejecta produced by the impact of an artificial projectile with the aim of deflecting an asteroid. Here we develop a simplified, idealized model of impact conditions that can be…
The author researched this new idea - support of flight by any aerial vehicles at significant altitude solely by the magnetic field of the planet. It is shown that current technology allows humans to create a light propulsion (AB engine)…
Earth is bombarded by meteors, occasionally by one large enough to cause a significant explosion and possible loss of life. Although the odds of a deadly asteroid strike in the next century are low, the most likely impact is by a relatively…
Surface charging phenomenon of asteroids, mainly resulting from solar wind plasma and solar radiation, has been studied extensively. However, the influence of asteroid's rotation on surface charging has yet to be fully understood. Here…