A Gravitational Tractor for Towing Asteroids

Laser ablation of a Near-Earth Object (NEO) on a collision course with Earth produces a cloud of ejecta which exerts a thrust on the NEO, deflecting it from its original trajectory. Ablation may be performed from afar by illuminating an Earth-targeting asteroid or comet with a stand-off "DE- STAR" system consisting of a large phased-array laser in Earth orbit. Alternatively, a much smaller stand-on "DE-STARLITE" system may travel alongside the target, slowly deflecting it fro...

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 science, resource mining, planetary defense/security and as interplanetary depots and communication relays. Landing on a small asteroid and manipulating its surface materials remains a major unsolved challenge fraught with high risk. The ast...

Near Earth Asteroids have a possibility of impacting with the Earth and always have a thread on the Earth. This paper proposes a way of changing the trajectory of the asteroid to avoid the impaction. Solar sail evolving in a H-reversal trajectory is utilized for asteroid deflection. Firstly, the dynamics of solar sail and the characteristics of the H-reversal trajectory are analyzed. Then, the attitude of the solar sail is optimized to guide the sail to impact with the object...

In this paper we put forward a proposal to use Near Earth Objects as radiation shield for deep space exploration. In principle these objects can provide also a spacious habitat for the astronauts and their supplies on their journeys. We undertake also a detailed assessment of this proposal for a mission from Earth to Mars.

The study of asteroids, its composition and trajectories, has been a persistent interest in the space exploration community. In addition, they are also perceived as a great threat to life on Earth, considering the possibility of an impact with our planet. A considerable portion, around 15%, of the asteroid population are believed to be part of a double or triple asteroid system.

In 2023, the 12th edition of Global Trajectory Competition was organised around the problem referred to as "Sustainable Asteroid Mining". This paper reports the developments that led to the solution proposed by ESA's Advanced Concepts Team. Beyond the fact that the proposed approach failed to rank higher than fourth in the final competition leader-board, several innovative fundamental methodologies were developed which have a broader application. In particular, new methods ba...

Global warming is one of the problems of human civilization and decarbonization policy is the main solution to this problem. In this work, we propose using the gravity-assist by the asteroids to increase the orbital distance of the Earth from the Sun. We can manipulate the orbit of asteroids in the asteroid belt by solar sailing and propulsion engines to guide them towards the Mars orbit and a gravitational scattering can put asteroids in a favorable direction to provide an e...

Purpose: This paper presents a full fourth-order model of the gravity gradient torque of spacecraft around asteroids by taking into consideration of the inertia integrals of the spacecraft up to the fourth order, which is an improvement of the previous fourth-order model of the gravity gradient torque. Design, methodology and approach: The fourth-order gravitational potential of the spacecraft is derived based on Taylor expansion. Then the expression of the gravity gradient t...

This paper deals with the problem of constructing a flight scheme to Venus, in which a spacecraft flying to the planet after a gravity assist maneuver and transition to a resonant orbit in order to re-encounter with Venus, makes a passage of a minor celestial body. The 117 candidate asteroids from the NASA JPL catalogue, whose diameter exceeds 1 km, were selected. The flight trajectories which meet the criteria of impulse-free both flyby Venus and asteroid, and the subsequent...

In this paper, a practical approach to the trajectory design for asteroid exploration missions with CubeSats is presented. When applied trajectories are sought, operative concerns and uncertainties affecting the spacecraft dynamics must be considered during the design process. Otherwise, trajectories that are possible on paper might become unfeasible when real-world constraints are considered. The risk of such eventualities leads to the urge of extending the trajectory design...