Estimating the Probability of Asteroid Collision with the Earth by the Monte Carlo Method

Abstract

The commonly accepted method of estimating the probability of asteroid collision with the Earth is investigated on an example of two fictitious asteroids one of which must obviously collide with the Earth and the second must pass by at a dangerous distance from the Earth. The simplest Kepler model of motion is used. Confidence regions of asteroid motion are estimated by the Monte Carlo method. Two variants of constructing the confidence region are considered: in the form of points distributed over the entire volume and in the form of points mapped onto the boundary surface. The special feature of the multidimensional point distribution in the first variant of constructing the confidence region that can lead to zero probability of collision for bodies that collide with the Earth is demonstrated. The probability estimates obtained for even considerably smaller number of points in the confidence region determined by its boundary surface are free from this disadvantage.