·

ESA mulling over an ‘Asteroid deflection mission’, seeks ideas

esa-mulling-over-an-asteroid-deflection-mission-seeks-ideas

The thought of asteroid impact on Earth is intimidating – one that’s connected with catastrophic devastation in past and have always been a hot topic for fictional stories. Though space agencies are continuously watching the sky in search of potential future impact events, Earth is most definitely not immune to such impact yet. ESA and NASA are now working collaboratively on an asteroid deflection mission to improve our understanding as to how such threat can be tackled. Concepts are being sought for both ground- and space-based investigations, seeking improved understanding of the physics of very high-speed collisions involving both man-made and natural objects in space.

This low-budget transatlantic partnership will involve the joint operations of two small spacecraft sent to intercept a binary asteroid and is being called Asteroid Impact and Deflection mission – AIDA. Mission concept suggests that first a Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft, designed by the US Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory will collide with the smaller of the two asteroids. Meanwhile, ESA’s Asteroid Impact Monitor (AIM) craft will survey these bodies in detail, before and after the collision. The impact should change the pace at which the objects spin around each other, observable from Earth. But AIM’s close-up view will ‘ground-truth’ such observations.

ESA's Asteroid Impact Monitor (AIM) craft will monitor the impact of the US Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft as part of the double-spacecraft Asteroid Impact and Deflection mission – AIDA. Source: ESA ESA’s Asteroid Impact Monitor (AIM) craft will monitor the impact of the US Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft as part of the double-spacecraft Asteroid Impact and Deflection mission – AIDA. Source: ESA

 

Andrés Gálvez, ESA’s AIDA study manager explains what improves the efficiency of the mission,

“Both missions become better when put together – getting much more out of the overall investment. And the vast amounts of data coming from the joint mission should help to validate various theories, such as our impact modelling.”

Such a mission will definitely improve our understanding of asteroids thereby improving our defense against possible future impacts on the Earth in a manner that won’t need Hollywood-style heroism, but rather a planned and reliable interception of the asteroid(s).

Source: ESA

Featured image:  ESA

The US-European Asteroid Impact and Deflection mission – AIDA. This innovative but low-budget transatlantic partnership involves the joint operations of two small spacecraft sent to intercept a binary asteroid.

Share:

Commenting rules and guidelines

We value the thoughts and opinions of our readers and welcome healthy discussions on our website. In order to maintain a respectful and positive community, we ask that all commenters follow these rules:

  • Treat others with kindness and respect.
  • Stay on topic and contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way.
  • Do not use abusive or hateful language.
  • Do not spam or promote unrelated products or services.
  • Do not post any personal information or content that is illegal, obscene, or otherwise inappropriate.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these rules. By commenting on our website, you agree to abide by these guidelines. Thank you for helping to create a positive and welcoming environment for all.

3 Comments

  1. Perhaps a small test satellite with a conductive cable forming a large slowly rotating ring around it to maintain axis could be sent up to orbit the sun and tracked to determine what effects the ever changing magnetic fields within the solar wind would have on its trajectory over time due to induction? If significant, this may be a good starting point to refine for an asteroid deflection mission, assuming the asteroid’s mass and rotation axis is known, especially well suited for rubble-pile asteroids.

    1. Add a rectifier into the circuit that can be switched to either direction, disconnected, or bypassed using software on board the satellite that detects local magnetic field lines and we might be onto something — that is assuming there’s any significant effects of induction upon the satellite’s trajectory.

  2. Developing the technology to protect Earth from asteroids and comets is as important as developing vaccines to protect us from diseases. It needs to be given the highest priority. Tera-forming Mars is another precaution to take to give us another planet to migrate to.
    The technology for deflecting asteroids could also be used to send watery asteroids to hit Mars to kick-start the Tera-forming process.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *