The asteroid and comet impact hazard: risk assessment and mitigation options

Gritzner, Christian; Dürfeld, Kai; Kasper, J.; Fasoulas, Stefanos

doi:10.1007/s00114-006-0115-0

Cited by 16 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Table 1 presents a tradeoff of deflection techniques along with grades from 0 to 10 to give an indication of the feasibility level or a performance map for a comet or an asteroid that might impact Earth in the near future, taking into account development time. The higher the grade the more feasible it is deflect certain PHOs [20,23]. After reviewing the above deflection methods, we suggest the use of the Directed Energy Systems (DES) as sustainable mitigation architecture.…”

Section: Deflectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Architecture for mitigating short-term warning cosmic threats: READI project

Nambiar¹,

Hussein

Silva-Martinez

et al. 2016

2016 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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Earth is being constantly bombarded by a large variety of celestial bodies and has been since its formation 4.5 billion years ago. Among those bodies, mainly asteroids and comets, there are those that have the potential to create large scale destruction upon impact. The only extinction-level impact recorded to date was 65 million years ago, during the era of dinosaurs. The probability of another extinction-level, or even city-killer, impact may be negligible, but the consequences can be severe for the biosphere and for our species. Therefore it is highly imperative for us to be prepared for such a devastating impact in the near future, especially since humanity is at the threshold of wielding technologies that allow us to do so. Majority of scientists, engineers, and policymakers have focused on long-term strategies and warning periods for Earth orbit crossing Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), and have suggested methods and policies to tackle such problems. However, less attention has been paid to short warning period NEO threats. Such NEOs test current technological and international cooperation capabilities in protecting ourselves, and can create unpredictable devastation ranging from local to global scale. The most recent example is the Chelyabinsk incident in Russia. This event has provided a wakeup call for space agencies and governments around the world towards establishing a Planetary Defense Program.The Roadmap for EArth Defense Initiative (READI) is a project by a team of international, intercultural, and interdisciplinary participants of the International Space University's Space Studies Program 2015 hosted by Ohio University, Athens, OH proposing a roadmap for space agencies, governments, and the general public to tackle NEOs with a short warning before impact.Taking READI as a baseline, this paper presents a technical description of methodologies proposed for detection and impact mitigation of a medium-sized comet (up to 800m across) with a short-warning period of two years on a collision course with Earth. The hypothetical comet is on a highly-inclined orbit having a high probability for Earth impact after its perihelion. For detection, we propose a space-based infrared detection system consisting of two satellites located at the Earth-Moon Lagrange points L1 and L2 coupled with space observatories, like the James Webb telescope and the Centennial telescope. These telescopes are supported by ground-based telescopes, like the Arecibo and Green Bank telescope, in the search for NEOs. Upon detection, the comet is tracked constantly using space-and ground-based telescopes. The deflection system is two-pronged, firstly involving the use of a high energy Directed Energy Laser Terminals (DELT) placed at Sun-Earth Lagrange points L4 and L5 so as to initiate and increase the ablation rate of the comet and deviate it from its collision trajectory, and secondly by the Hypervelocity Comet Intercept Vehicle (HCIV), a space-borne system combining a kinetic impactor with a thermonuclear device. The policy and internationa...

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Section: Deflectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Architecture for mitigating short-term warning cosmic threats: READI project

Nambiar¹,

Hussein

Silva-Martinez

et al. 2016

2016 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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“…Further, only a small subset of these comet nuclei would be an impact threat. From the standpoint of likelihood of impact versus potentially large loss of I ife, objects that are about I km in diameter are the greatest threat (Morrison et al 2002;Chapman 2004;Gritzner et al 2006). Ironically.…”

Section: Potential Threatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges of Deflecting an Asteroid or Comet Nucleus with a Nuclear Burst

Bradley

Plesko²,

Clement³

et al. 2010

AIP Conference Proceedings

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There are mlll1y natural disasters that humanity has 10 deal with over time. These inc/ude canhquakes, tsunamis. hurricanes, floods, asteroid strikes, and so on. Some of these disasters occur slowly enough that some advance warning is possible for affected areas. In this case. the response is to evacuate the affecled area and deal wilh the damage later. The Kalrina and Rita hurricane evacuations on the U.S. Gulf Coasl in 2005 demonstrated the chaos that can result from such a response. In contrast with other natural disasters. it is likely that an asteroid or comet nucleus on a collision course with Earth wi II be detected with enough warning time to possibly deflect it away. Thanks to Near•Earth Object (NED) surveys, people are working towards a goal a f cataloging at least 90% of all near-£anh objects with diameters larger th an-[40 meters in the next fi fteen years. The i mportanl quest ion Ihen, is how to mitigate the threat from an asteroid or comet nucleus found to be on a coli ision course with Earth. In this paper. we briefly review some possible deflection methods, describe their good and bad points, and Ihen embark on a more detailed description of using Ilucl.:ar munitions in a standoff modt: 10 denect the asteroid or comt:1 nucleus hefore it can hit Earth.

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“…Due to the considerably high velocities and notable masses involved, those impacts are accompanied by the absorption of tremendous quantities of kinetic energy. Even today, although fortunately with a much lower probability, cosmic impacts can in principle transfer energies sufficient enough to result in a global catastrophe and therefore still represent a permanent and serious danger for humankind [ 38 , 39 ]. The most popular example of such an event is the asteroid impact 65 million years ago which is believed to be the cause of the mass extinction at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary that ultimately led to the dying out of the dinosaurs [ 40 ].…”

Section: Mechanical Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Free Energy That Drove Primordial Anabolism

Kaufmann

2009

IJMS

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A key problem in understanding the origin of life is to explain the mechanism(s) that led to the spontaneous assembly of molecular building blocks that ultimately resulted in the appearance of macromolecular structures as they are known in modern biochemistry today. An indispensable thermodynamic prerequisite for such a primordial anabolism is the mechanistic coupling to processes that supplied the free energy required. Here I review different sources of free energy and discuss the potential of each form having been involved in the very first anabolic reactions that were fundamental to increase molecular complexity and thus were essential for life.

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The asteroid and comet impact hazard: risk assessment and mitigation options

Cited by 16 publications

References 25 publications

Architecture for mitigating short-term warning cosmic threats: READI project

Architecture for mitigating short-term warning cosmic threats: READI project

Challenges of Deflecting an Asteroid or Comet Nucleus with a Nuclear Burst

On the Free Energy That Drove Primordial Anabolism

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