Rotational and translational considerations in kinetic impact deflection of potentially hazardous asteroids

Abstract

Kinetic impact may be the most reliable and easily implemented method to deflect hazardous asteroids using current technology. Depending on warning time, it can be effective on asteroids with diameters of a few hundred meters. Current impact deflection research often focuses on the orbital dynamics of asteroids. In this paper, we use the ejection outcome of a general oblique impact to calculate how an asteroid’s rotational and translational state changes after impact. The results demonstrate how small impactors affect the dynamical state of small asteroids having a diameter of about 100m. According to these consequences, we propose using several small impactors to hit an asteroid continuously and gently, making the deflection mission relatively flexible. After calculating the rotational variation, we find that the rotational state, especially of slender non-porous asteroids, can be changed significantly. This gives the possibility of using multiple small impactors to mitigate a potentially hazardous asteroid by spinning it up into pieces, or to despin one for future in-situ investigation (e.g., asteroid retrieval or mining).