Related papers: Asteroid mining with small spacecraft and its econ…
Orbital resonances are believed to be responsible for the delivery of main belt asteroids to the inner Solar System. Several possibilities have been suggested to transport asteroids and their fragments into mean motion and secular…
We investigate the evaporation of close-by pulsar companions, such as planets, asteroids, and white dwarfs, by induction heating. Assuming that the outflow energy is dominated by a Poynting flux (or pulsar wave) at the location of the…
There are thousands of asteroids in near-Earth space and millions expected in the Main Belt. They are diverse in their physical properties and compositions. They are also time capsules of the early Solar System making them valuable for…
Here we explore a technique for constraining physical properties of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) based on variability in thermal emission as a function of viewing aspect. We present case studies of the low albedo, near-Earth asteroids…
Exploration of small bodies, namely comets and asteroids remain a challenging endeavor due to their low gravity. The risk is so high that missions such as Hayabusa II and OSIRIS-REx will be performing touch and go missions to obtain…
Small near-Earth asteroids (>20 meters) are interesting because they are progenitors for meteorites in our terrestrial collection. Crucial to our understanding of the effectiveness of our atmosphere in filtering low-strength impactors is…
Context. To investigate the distribution of rotation periods of asteroids from different regions of the Solar System and distribution of diameters of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). Aims. Verify if nonextensive statistics satisfactorily…
Theory and computations are provided for building of optimal (minimum weight) solid space towers (mast) up to one hundred kilometers in height. These towers can be used for tourism; scientific observation of space, observation of the Earth…
Asteroid discoveries are essential for planetary-defense efforts aiming to prevent impacts with Earth, including the more frequent megaton explosions from decameter impactors. While large asteroids ($\geq$100 km) have remained in the main…
We have identified and quantified semi-major axis drifts in Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) by performing orbital fits to optical and radar astrometry of all numbered NEAs. We focus on a subset of 54 NEAs that exhibit some of the most reliable…
Methods to constrain the surface mineralogy of asteroids have seen considerable development during the last decade with advancement in laboratory spectral calibrations and validation of our interpretive methodologies by spacecraft…
Fifteen orbital clusters (associations) were identified among ~20000 near Earth asteroids (NEAs). All associations were found with a high statistical reliability using a single linkage cluster analysis algorithm and three orbital similarity…
A new electrostatic ramjet space engine is proposed and analyzed. The upper atmosphere (85 -1000 km) is extremely dense in ions (millions per cubic cm). The interplanetary medium contains positive protons from the solar wind. A charged ball…
Short-arc orbit determination is crucial when an asteroid is first discovered. In these cases usually the observations are so few that the differential correction procedure may not converge. We have developed an initial orbit computation…
Beginning in 2012, NASA utilized a strategic process to identify broad societal questions, or grand challenges, that are well suited to the aerospace sector and align with national priorities. This effort generated NASA's first grand…
We report a detection of a faint near-Earth asteroid (NEA), which was done using our synthetic tracking technique and the CHIMERA instrument on the Palomar 200-inch telescope. This asteroid, with apparent magnitude of 23, was moving at 5.97…
Primordial Quark Nuggets,remnants of the quark-hadron phase transition, may be hiding most of the baryon number in superdense chunks have been discussed for years always from the theoretical point of view. While they seemed originally…
From an astrobiological point of view, special attention has been paid to the probability of habitable planets in extrasolar systems. The purpose of this study is to constrain a possible range of the mass of a terrestrial planet that can…
This article describes a citizen-science project conducted by the Spanish Virtual Observatory (SVO) to improve the orbits of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) using data from astronomical archives. The list of NEAs maintained at the Minor Planet…
A deep-space exploration mission with low-thrust propulsion to rendezvous with multiple asteroids is investigated. Indirect methods, based on the optimal control theory, are implemented to optimize the fuel consumption. The application of…