To investigate the effectiveness of a kinetic impactor that accelerates a spacecraft to impact and deflect an Earth-threatening asteroid, a graphical representation, called an impact-geometry map, is proposed in this study. Impact-geometry values that account for changes in asteroid orbital energy at an ideal orbital intersection point for the spacecraft and asteroid were investigated. The impact-geometry map is defined as a contour plot of the impact geometry as a function of the semimajor axis and eccentricity of the spacecraft. The ideal impact of the spacecraft on the asteroid depends on the shape of the injected orbit, and this is well visualized by the impact-geometry map. In addition, the trajectory optimization of photonic solar sails for fictional kinetic-impactor-mission scenarios was performed and the results with an impact-geometry map were investigated. The results were plotted on the impact-geometry map and well reflect the relationship between achievable deflection distance and impact geometry. This paper also highlights the differences between the impact geometry achieved by the mission and the ideal value obtained by the impact-geometry map.
Visualization of Kinetic-Impact Effectiveness for Asteroid Deflection Using Impact-Geometry Maps
Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets ; 55 , 5 ; 1181-1197
2018-07-27
17 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English