Studying impact prevention of one or more asteroids with the earth

• Grant number: 17/07539-3
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Effective date (Start): June 07, 2017
• Effective date (End): June 06, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Aerospace Engineering - Flight Dynamics
• Principal researcher: Antônio Fernando Bertachini de Almeida Prado
• Grantee: Thais Carneiro Oliveira
• Supervisor abroad: Brent William Barbee
• Home Institution: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE). Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovações (Brasil). São José dos Campos , SP, Brazil
• Research place: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt (NASA), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/01430-7 - STUDY OF EQUILIBRIUM POINTS AND LESS PERTURBED ORBITS RELATED TO ASTEROID SYSTEMS IN FULL RESTRICTED THREE-BODY PROBLEM, BP.PD

Abstract

The proposed research project is related to planetary defense and impact prevention of one or more asteroids with the Earth. Planetary defense includes detecting potential hazardous bodies, such as asteroids or comets that may collide with the Earth, to determine their trajectories, sizes, shapes, masses, and other parameters that may help to know the severity of the impact, deviate its trajectory or mitigate the effects of the impact. The proposed work involves a real mission that aims to change the trajectory of a binary system. This binary system will not collide with the Earth, but its results and technological advances will provide the scientist knowledge to prevent a possible future collision of an asteroid with the Earth. The work involves modeling mathematically a binary asteroid system, the topic currently under development at the postdoctoral program at INPE. The idea is to use the mathematical modeling of the orbital dynamics of the binary system to find stable orbits for the satellite around the binary system. There are two ways that are currently most promising in preventing an asteroid or comet's impact on Earth: a high-energy impact with the asteroid, taking it out of its collision trajectory; or the use of a gravitational tractor, which means to place an object that performs station-keeping maneuvers around the system and interferes gravitationally in its trajectory, removing it gradually from the collision path. In both cases a complex modeling of the system is fundamental. In this sense, the present project is a practical application of the work in development in the current postdoctoral. (AU)