Surface Attachment Devices for Asteroid Deflection Missions
- Paper number
IAC-05-E2.2.09
- Author
Ms. Felicity Holland, Kingston University, United Kingdom
- Year
2005
- Abstract
The probability of a Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) catastrophically impacting Earth in the next 100 years is small, but the consequences of such an event can be extreme. Effects of NEA-Earth collisions range from significant cratering or tsunami effects, through to potential global devastation. A number of NEA deflection options have been proposed. These concepts can be divided into short-duration impulsive and long-duration propulsive techniques; the approach chosen depends on the available warning time of an impact. When extended warning times are available, long-duration electric propulsion (EP) deflection has been shown to offer significant advantages over other techniques. Application of long-duration thrust on the asteroid surface requires a spacecraft to land on one of the asteroid rotation poles, and then thrust parallel to the surface in order to alter its rotation axis to a desired orientation prior to thrusting into/away from the surface for the deflection push/pull manoeuvre. A key enabling technology for this approach is a means to securely attach the spacecraft to the asteroid surface and maintain stability during vertical and horizontal thrusting. Attachment devices must take into account expected thrust levels and torques, the asteroid surface/subsurface properties and the low gravity environment. This paper describes potential attachment methods derived from both terrestrial and space applications that are capable of accommodating different asteroid surface/subsurface features such as rubble piles, regolith pools, craters and porous material. The primary options considered are anchor placement in drilled holes (fixed by expansion, friction or adhesion) and insertion of single or multiple penetrators (with tethered spike or ‘harpoon’, telescoping spike or helical screw attachments). Potential placement difficulties of the various methods are considered, as are the required embedding depth and anchor pull-out resistance. A trade off study of the options is performed and a conceptual design for a full-scale deployable surface attachment device, to be integrated within existing electric propulsion deflection mission/spacecraft preliminary design concepts, is presented.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-05-E2.2.09.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.