Ultra-low delta-v objects and the human exploration of asteroids

Elvis, Martin; McDowell, Jonathan; Hoffman, Jeffrey A.; Binzel, Richard P.

doi:10.1016/j.pss.2011.05.006

Cited by 32 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…It is one of the most accessible spacecraft targets, ranking 124th out of 8857 object entries in the list of Near Earth Asteroid ΔV for spacecraft rendezvous 1 as of May 2012. Its ΔV as stated in that list is 4.567 km s −1 , slightly above the threshold that would classify it an ultra low Delta V (ULDV) object (Elvis et al 2011). However, its absolute magnitude is the second-brightest within those objects that precede it, the first being the ULDV NEO (89136) 2001 US16 with H = 20.2 and ΔV = 4.428 km s −1 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Physical and dynamical characterisation of low ΔVNEA (190491) 2000 FJ₁₀

Christou

Kwiatkowski

Butkiewicz

et al. 2012

A&A

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Aims. We investigated the physical properties and dynamical evolution of near-Earth asteroid (NEA) (190491) 2000 FJ 10 in order to assess the suitability of this accessible NEA as a space mission target. Results. The asteroid's spectrum and colours determined by our observations suggest a taxonomic classification within the S-complex although other classifications (V, D, E, M, P) cannot be ruled out. On this evidence, it is unlikely to be a primitive, relatively unaltered remnant from the early history of the solar system and thus a low priority target for robotic sample return. Our photometry placed a lower bound of 2 h to the asteroid's rotation period. Its absolute magnitude was estimated to be 21.54 ± 0.1 which, for a typical S-complex albedo, translates into a diameter of 130 ± 20 m. Our dynamical simulations show that it has likely been an Amor for the past 10 5 yr. Although currently not Earth-crossing, it will likely become so during the period 50-100 kyr in the future. It may have arrived from the inner or central main belt >1 Myr ago as a former member of a low-inclination S-class asteroid family. Its relatively slow rotation and large size make it a suitable destination for a human mission. We show that ballistic Earth-190491-Earth transfer trajectories with ΔV < 2 km s −1 at the asteroid exist between 2052 and 2061.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Physical and dynamical characterisation of low ΔVNEA (190491) 2000 FJ₁₀

Christou

Kwiatkowski

Butkiewicz

et al. 2012

A&A

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“…Given the large payloads that mining missions, or a human expedition, would require, a lower delta--v is needed. Elvis et al (2011) show that choosing an NEO with delta--v = 4.5 km s --1 can double, or even quadruple, the payload delivered to the NEO compared with the median. This value includes only a small fraction of all known NEOs (Figure 1, black line).…”

Section: Accessibilitymentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The return delta--v is more important than the outbound delta--v because a much larger mass of ore needs to be returned than the mass of the mining equipment sent out. Small changes in delta--v make for large differences in the mass that can reach an NEO (Elvis et al 2011).…”

Section: Accessibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Benner has computed the outbound Hohmann delta--v values for all known NEOs from low Earth orbit (LEO) to an asteroid rendezvous orbit 3 . Values range for 3.8 km s --1 to 28.0 km s --1 , with a median of 6.65 km s --1 ( Figure. 1, Elvis et al 2011). Given the large payloads that mining missions, or a human expedition, would require, a lower delta--v is needed.…”

Section: Accessibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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How many ore-bearing asteroids?

Elvis

2014

Planetary and Space Science

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A simple formalism is presented to assess how many asteroids contain ore, i.e. commercially profitable material, and not merely a high concentration of a resource. I apply this formalism to two resource cases: platinum group metals (PGMs) and water. Assuming for now that only Ni--Fe asteroids are of interest for PGMs, then 1% of NEOs are rich in PGMs. The dearth of ultra--low delta--v (<4.5 km s --1 ) NEOs larger than 100 m diameter reduces the ore--bearing fraction to only 1 in 2000 NEOs. As 100 m diameter NEOs are needed to have a value ≥US$1 B and the population of near--Earth objects (NEOs) larger than 100 m diameter is 20,000 (Mainzer et al. 2011) the total population of PGM ore--bearing NEOs is roughly 10. I stress that this is a conservative and highly uncertain value. For example, an order of magnitude increase in PGM ore--bearing NEOs occurs if delta--v can as large as 5.7 km s --1 . Water ore for utilization in space is likely to be found in 1/1100 NEOs. NEOs as small as 18 m diameter can be water--ore--bodies because of the high richness of water (~20%) expected in 25% of carbonaceous asteroids, bringing the number of water--ore--bearing NEOs to 9000 out of the 10 million NEOs of this size. These small NEOs are, however, hard to find with present surveys. There will be 18 water--ore--bearing NEOs >100 m diameter. These estimates are at present highly imprecise and sensitive to small changes, especially in the maximum delta--v allowed. Nonetheless the low values found here mean that much improved determinations of each of the terms of the formalism are urgently needed. If better estimates still find small numbers of ore--bearing NEOs then thorough surveys for NEA discovery and, especially, characterization are needed. Strategies for the two classes are likely to be different.

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“…Known NEOs are accessible with much lower ∆v than main belt asteroids (e.g. Elvis et al, 2011;García Yárnoz et al, 2013a;Taylor et al, 2018) and the population of yet-to-be-discovered small NEOs on Earth-like orbits offers the possibility of many more commercially profitable asteroid missions (Jedicke et al, 2018).…”

Section: Minimoon Mission Opportunitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Earth's Minimoons: Opportunities for Science and Technology

Jedicke

Bolin

Bottke

et al. 2018

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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Twelve years ago the Catalina Sky Survey discovered Earth's first known natural geocentric object other than the Moon, a few-meter diameter asteroid designated 2006 RH 120 . Despite significant improvements in ground-based telescope and detector technology in the past decade the asteroid surveys have not discovered another temporarily-captured orbiter (TCO; colloquially known as minimoons) but the all-sky fireball system operated in the Czech Republic as part of the European Fireball Network detected a bright natural meteor that was almost certainly in a geocentric orbit before it struck Earth's atmosphere. Within a few years the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will either begin to regularly detect TCOs or force a re-analysis of the creation and dynamical evolution of small asteroids in the inner solar system. The first studies of the provenance, properties, and dynamics of Earth's minimoons suggested that there should be a steady state population with about one 1-to 2-m diameter captured objects at any time, with the number of captured meteoroids increasing exponentially for smaller sizes. That model was then improved and extended to include the population of temporarily-captured flybys (TCFs), objects that fail to make an entire revolution around Earth while energetically bound to the Earth-Moon system. Several different techniques for discovering TCOs have been considered but their small diameters, proximity, and rapid motion make them challenging targets for existing ground-based optical, meteor, and radar surveys. However, the LSST's tremendous light gathering power and short exposure times could allow it to detect and discover many minimoons. We expect that if the TCO population is confirmed, and new objects are frequently discovered, they can provide new opportunities for (1) studying the dynamics of the Earth-Moon system, (2) testing models of the production and dynamical evolution of small asteroids from the asteroid belt, (3) rapid and frequent low delta-v missions to multiple minimoons, and (4) evaluating in-situ resource utilization techniques on asteroidal material. Here we review the past decade of minimoon studies in preparation for capitalizing on the scientific and commercial opportunities of TCOs in the first decade of LSST operations.

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Ultra-low delta-v objects and the human exploration of asteroids

Cited by 32 publications

References 15 publications

Physical and dynamical characterisation of low ΔVNEA (190491) 2000 FJ₁₀

Physical and dynamical characterisation of low ΔVNEA (190491) 2000 FJ₁₀

How many ore-bearing asteroids?

Earth's Minimoons: Opportunities for Science and Technology

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Ultra-low delta-v objects and the human exploration of asteroids

Cited by 32 publications

References 15 publications

Physical and dynamical characterisation of low ΔVNEA (190491) 2000 FJ10

Physical and dynamical characterisation of low ΔVNEA (190491) 2000 FJ10

How many ore-bearing asteroids?

Earth's Minimoons: Opportunities for Science and Technology

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Product

Resources

About

Physical and dynamical characterisation of low ΔVNEA (190491) 2000 FJ₁₀

Physical and dynamical characterisation of low ΔVNEA (190491) 2000 FJ₁₀