Mission opportunities for the flight validation of the kinetic impactor concept for asteroid deflection

Abstract

The kinetic impactor technique for deflecting near-Earth objects (NEOs), whereby a spacecraft is directed to collide with a NEO to alter its orbit via momentum transfer, is one of several proposed methods for defending Earth against hazardous NEOs (asteroids and comets). In this paper we present detailed mission design concepts for a feasible and affordable kinetic impactor flight validation mission deployed to a currently known near-Earth asteroid (NEA). Several filter steps are devised that utilize relevant criteria to optimally balance key parameters, such as approach phase angle, estimated NEA diameter, relative velocity at intercept, and current NEA orbit knowledge, and produce refined lists of the most promising candidate target NEAs.