Related papers: Small-body deflection techniques using spacecraft:…
Deflection missions to near-Earth asteroids will encounter non-negligible uncertainties in the physical and orbital parameters of the target object. In order to reliably assess future impact threat mitigation operations such uncertainties…
According to Shoemaker, the "impact of solid bodies is the most fundamental process that has taken place on the terrestrial planets", as they shape the surfaces of all solar system bodies. A lot of information on this process has been…
It has been suggested that the ejection to interplanetary space of terrestrial crustal material, accelerated in a large impact, may result in the interchange of biological material between Earth and other Solar System bodies. In this paper,…
Understanding the physics of small bodies such as asteroids, comets, and planetary moons will help us understand the formation of the solar system, and also provide us with resources for a future space economy. Due to these reasons,…
We report on our study of asteroidal breakups, i.e. fragmentations of targets, subsequent gravitational reaccumulation and formation of small asteroid families. We focused on parent bodies with diameters $D_{\rm pb} = 10$ km. Simulations…
We introduce a new hybrid method to perform high-resolution tidal disruption simulations, at arbitrary orbits. An SPH code is used to simulate tidal disruptions only in the immediate spatial domain of the star, namely, where the tidal…
We give a brief introduction to smoothed particle hydrodynamics methods for continuum mechanics. Specifically, we present our 3D SPH code to simulate and analyze collisions of asteroids consisting of two types of material: basaltic rock and…
In recent years, computer simulators of rigid-body systems have been successfully used to improve and expand the field of developing new space robots, becoming a leading tool for the preliminary investigation and evaluation of space robotic…
Asteroid body-fixed hovering problem using nonideal solar sail models in a compact form with controllable sail area is investigated in this paper. The nonlinear dynamic equations for the hovering problem are constructed for a spherically…
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…
This paper discusses the design and the performance achievable with active aerodynamic attitude control in very low Earth orbit, i.e. below 450 km in altitude. A novel real-time algorithm is proposed for selecting the angles of deflection…
Tumbling asteroids belong to a small group of objects, whose angular velocity vector is unaligned with any of its principal axes of inertia. This leads to challenging efforts to model the trajectory of any spacecraft designed to orbit these…
The heterogeneity of the small body population complicates the prediction of small body properties before the spacecraft's arrival. In the context of autonomous small body exploration, it is crucial to develop algorithms that estimate the…
We present recent improvements of the modeling of the disruption of strength dominated bodies using the Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) technique. The improvements include an updated strength model and a friction model, which are…
The science and origins of asteroids is deemed high priority in the Planetary Science Decadal Survey. Two of the main questions from the Decadal Survey pertain to what the "initial stages, conditions, and processes of solar system formation…
Space debris larger than 1 cm can damage space instruments and impact Earth. The low-Earth orbits (at heights smaller than 2000 km) and orbits near the geostationary- Earth orbit (at 35786 km height) are especially endangered, because most…
During close approaches to planets or stars, the morphological and dynamical properties of rubble-pile small bodies can be modified, and some may catastrophically break up. This phenomenon is of particular interest for understanding the…
The rapid advancement and miniaturization of spacecraft electronics, sensors, actuators, and power systems have resulted in growing proliferation of small-spacecraft. Coupled with this is the growing number of rocket launches, with…
Orbital debris is a pressing problem which presents a danger to global space operations and a barrier to continued development of the space economy and space infrastructure. As research continues regarding orbital debris, there is a need…
Space Debris (SD) consist of non-operational artificial objects orbiting around the Earth, which could possibly damage space vehicles, such as the International Space Station (ISS) or other manned spacecrafts. The vast majority of such…