using a week gravity effect for correction of the asteroid apophis orbit
- Paper number
IAC-08.C1.6.7
- Author
Prof. Vyacheslav V. Ivashkin, Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, RAS, Russia
- Coauthor
Mr. Cyril A. Stikhno, Lavochkin Association, Russia
- Year
2008
- Abstract
A hazard mitigation problem connected with asteroid Apophis is analyzed in the Paper. Taking into consideration a present probability of the Apophis-Earth collision in 2036, we study namely the asteroid orbit correction problem. Analysis of the Apophis orbit and of its orbit correction, which was performed in some studies, e.g. in [1], showed that the correction could be made by small enough velocity impulse if it is performed before previous Apophis-Earth approaching in 2029 and usual methods of impulsive effect on the asteroid, e.g. kinetic-impulse effect and nuclear one, are convenient because of their quickness in realization and energy efficiency. Unfortunately by now, these methods do not enable to perform this correction exactly enough because of indefiniteness for some their factors. In this respect, week effects with slow change of the asteroid orbit are more convenient although they require large duration for the correction. The Paper analyses characteristics of the recently proposed method of the gravity effect by a special spacecraft [2]. In this method, the spacecraft is kept by a controlled jet thrust in a special space position near the asteroid and gives a gravity perturbation to the asteroid. This leads to a slow change of the asteroid orbit and deflecting the asteroid from Earth in 2036. There is studied the change of the perigee distance for Apophis’ orbit in 2036 depending on spacecraft mass, initial correction time, duration of gravity effect. The fuel mass for controlled keeping the spacecraft relatively asteroid is determined. Again, this correction before Apophis-Earth approach in 2029 is essentially more effective than after this approach. It is shown that, if Apophis’ orbit results in the collision with Earth in 2036, this gravity effect, in principle, can be used to deflect asteroid from Earth. The study is supported by Russian Foundation of Basic Studies (Grant 06-01-00531) and by Grant for Scientific School NSc-2448.2006.1. References 1. V.V. Ivashkin and C.A. Stikhno. A Problem of the Orbit Correction for the Near-Earth Asteroid Apophis // 58th International Astronautical Congress IAC-2007, 24-28 September, Hyderabad, India. Paper IAC-07-C1.7.08. 2. E.T. Lu, S.G. Love. Gravitational Tractor for Towing Asteroids. // Nature, Vol. 438/10 November 2005, pp. 177-178.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
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