Related papers: First approximation for spacecraft motion relative…
To deflect impact-trajectory of massive km^3 and spinning asteroid by a few terrestrial radius one need a large momentum exchange. The dragging of huge spinning bodies in space by external engine seems difficult or impossible. Our solution…
Asteroid 99942 Apophis will pass near the Earth in April 2029. Expected to miss our planet by a safe margin, that could change if Apophis' path was perturbed by a collision with another asteroid in the interim. Though the statistical chance…
Asteroids can be eclipsed by other bodies in the Solar System, but no direct observation of an asteroid eclipse has been reported to date. We describe a statistical method to predict an eclipse for an asteroid based on the analysis of the…
The near-Earth asteroid (99942) Apophis is a potentially hazardous asteroid. We obtained far-infrared observations of this asteroid with the Herschel Space Observatory's PACS instrument at 70, 100, and 160 micron. These were taken at two…
We numerically investigate tidally induced surface refreshing on Apophis during its close approach with Earth within a perigee distance of 5.96 Earth radii on April 13, 2029. We implement a tidal resurfacing model with two stages: dynamics…
The orbital dynamics of a spacecraft orbiting around irregular small celestial bodies is a challenging problem. Difficulties to model the gravity field of these bodies arise from the poor knowledge of the exact shape as observed from the…
Large potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) are capable of causing a global catastrophe in the event of a planetary collision. Thus, rapid assessment of such an object's physical characteristics is crucial for determining its potential…
In this work, we performed a dynamical analysis of a spacecraft around a nearly equal-mass binary near-Earth asteroid with application to the asteroid 2017 YE5, which is also a possible dormant Jupiter-family comet. Thus, we investigated…
Orbit-attitude hovering of a spacecraft at the natural relative equilibria in the body-fixed frame of a uniformly rotating asteroid is discussed in the framework of the full spacecraft dynamics, in which the spacecraft is modeled as a rigid…
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…
In this work, we investigate the surface thermophysical properties (thermal emissivity, thermal inertia, roughness fraction and geometric albedo) of asteroid (99942) Apophis, using the currently available thermal infrared observations of…
Spectral characterization of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) has revealed a continuum of space-weathered states for the surfaces of S-complex NEAs, with Q-class NEAs, an S-complex subclass, most closely matching the un-weathered surfaces of…
Gaia is an astrometric mission that will be launched in spring 2013. There are many scientific outcomes from this mission and as far as our Solar System is concerned, the satellite will be able to map thousands of main belt asteroids (MBAs)…
Close-proximity exploration of small celestial bodies is crucial for the comprehensive and accurate characterization of their properties. However, the complex and uncertain dynamical environment around them contributes to a rapid dispersion…
There are thousands of asteroids in near-Earth space and millions in the Main Belt. They are diverse in physical properties and composition and are time capsules of the early solar system. This makes them strategic locations for planetary…
This study aims to establish an analytical model that reproduces the gravitational field around non-spherical bodies with constant density. Due to the non-spherical geometry of such bodies, their gravitational potential is disturbed…
In this work, we study the continuation of a periodic orbit on a relatively large scale and discover the existence of convergence under certain conditions, which has profound significance in research on asteroids and can provide a total…
The potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) (99942) Apophis is one of the most remarkable near-Earth asteroids (NEA) in terms of impact hazard. A good determination of its surface thermal inertia is very important in order to evaluate the…
A method for asteroid deflection that makes use of a spacecraft moving back and forth on a segment of an appropriate Keplerian orbit about the asteroid is described and evaluated. It is shown that, on average, the spacecraft describing such…
We provide context for Apophis' 2029 Earth passage by analyzing its possible source populations, in particular, the Flora family, which has a similar composition, corresponding to LL chondrite meteorites. Out of ${\sim}3380$ NEOs larger or…