ESA studies on the Don Quijote NEO mission: Dealing with impact uncertainties
- Paper number
IAC-05-A3.5.B.02
- Author
Mr. André Gálvez, European Space Agency (ESA)/ESTEC, The Netherlands
- Coauthor
Mr. Arnaud Bourdoux, European Space Agency (ESA)/ESTEC, The Netherlands
- Coauthor
Dr. Dario Izzo, European Space Agency (ESA)/ESTEC, The Netherlands
- Year
2005
- Abstract
The importance of international initiatives to further our understanding on the NEO has been highlighted in many occasions. The global dimensions of the NEO hazard and the level of awareness of this risk of a large fraction of the general public make it a subject that is especially suitable for international cooperation, even if the project itself e.g. a space mission could be relatively modest in nature. In the event of the detection of an asteroid in a collision course with the Earth, this cooperation would become even more effective, as numerous efforts would be made to gather as much data as possible on the hazardous object before an effective fully-fledged deflection mission –most likely also a multinational venture- can be developed. However the most likely scenario is that the uncertainty of an impact is large even years ahead of the possible impact date. The mission currently under consideration by the European Space Agency, called Don Quijote, would tackle this problem by accurately determining the trajectory of the hazardous body while at the same time collecting in-situ information on the asteroid properties. Most critically, it would also test the technologies required to perform the deflection in case this was indeed needed, reducing technological risk and enabling a shorter development and response time to the threat. The Don Quijote mission architecture discussed in this paper is the result of internal ESA assessments that are taking place over the year 2005 in the context of the Agency’s Concurrent Design Facility at ESTEC, and other studies carried out by ESA’s Advanced Concepts Team. A practical case of a mission to the asteroid 2004 MN -as an example of a NEO with a probability of impact that in spite of being small has not vanished completely after several observations have been carried out- is described. The mission, which has been presented elsewhere in its basic configuration, has been refined and adapted to the existing programmatic constraints. It consists of two spacecraft, which would be injected into separate interplanetary trajectories. The first spacecraft, called Hidalgo, would impact on the asteroid at a relative speed of more than 10 km/s. A second spacecraft, called Sancho, would have previously performed a rendezvous manoeuvre with the asteroid and would remain in orbit about it, observing the impact and analysing any changes in the asteroid orbit and rotation state as a consequence of the collision. This concept has served as reference scenario for discussion with technical and scientific experts from other space agencies and have been involved and actively participated on ESA's internal assessments, that are being carried out in preparation for the industrial work starting in early 2006.
- Abstract document