Three different methods for diverting near-Earth asteroids

Europeans, Russians and Americans are working on their own to find the best way to avoid a collision between Earth and an asteroid and deflect any threatening celestial body such as that which might have caused the extinction of dinosaurs.

Worldwide scientists work on developing ways of deviating near Earth space rocks: Three options/ideas are considered viable so far

“Nobody is thinking to destroy an asteroid by setting off an explosion because here is not about a Hollywood movie. The solution of a blast might be unfortunate, because splitting of celestial objects enhances the risks”, said Erwan Kervendal, Director of Astrium (group EADS), the European leader in the field of space research.

Given that the 45-meter asteroid 2012 DA 14 has just passed close to Earth Friday night – at a distance of nearly 27,000 km – “three worthy options can be considered in order to deflect a threatening space rock away from Earth” explained Kervendal.

The first deflection option relies on “a high speed object (~ 30,000 km/h) which aims at hitting the celestial rock near the center of gravity with an accuracy of 1 meter under a specific angle to be able to divert its path.”

Europeans are working on this scenario, among them being also Kervendal, leader of an Astrium project called “kinetic impactor”.

In turn, Americans count on the attraction properties exerted by a spacecraft which works as “gravity tractor” as it flies near the asteroid for a long time.

Russians are considering a third option – deviation of asteroid trajectory by blow effect associated with a blast occurring near the asteroid.

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“This is the first annual review of the European Union program called NEO-Shield (shield against Near Earth Objects) which was launched in early 2012 for a three-year period,” said Erwan Kervendal. “Everyone works separately on their own method, but we will bring together our knowledge and mathematical models. It is not a competition, but a collaboration between teams”.

Once “the most effective and industrially feasible” concept is chosen in mid 2015, the mankind will need several more years before having an operational solution.

“If the EU accepts the proposal, in 2020 we will launch a demonstrator to validate our choice and show that we can target a space rock located at about 36,000 kilometers, the distance to the geostationary telecommunication satellites. Depending on the interest of our countries’ leaders and the proof that our device works, we can then start to the financing and development of the operational technology,” added Kervendal.

Scientists believe it is premature to provide more details on the studies of three research teams, which “are not pressed by the time, because there is no real risk of collision before a century” as the risk of an impact with fearful asteroid Apophis in 2036 was cancelled.

Representatives of company Astrium were “very confident” about their ability to accomplish this mission. “We have launchers, we know how to launch interplanetary probes, we have experience in connecting cargo-type vehicles such as ATV to the International Space Station at high speed with an accuracy of a few centimeters. It is also required to hold the artificial intelligence on board the future vehicle in order to control and hit the asteroid with great precision”, Astrium researcher said.

Asteroid 2012 DA 14 passed close by Earth on Friday evening. If it crashed on our planet, would have generated damage comparable to those produced by the mysterious asteroid which fell in central Siberia in 1908 destroying all forest within a radius of 20 kilometers in Tunguska region and causing a shock wave several hundred times stronger than that caused by the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

A meteorite believed to have crashed in Yucatan 66 million years ago causing the extinction of the dinosaurs would have had a diameter of 10 km.