Spacecraft - solution against collisions with asteroids

A large asteroid like a stadium is rushing towards Earth. The collision can erase an area of ​​4,000km2. What do people on Earth need to do to avoid this disaster?

Photo simulating a spaceship that is manipulating gravity on an asteroid to pull it into another orbit ( Photo: NASA )

The old answer is to use a nuclear rocket or some other technique to bombard a dangerous asteroid. However, these methods may not be enough. Even after the asteroid explodes, its large pieces can still plunge down to Earth.

NASA's Edward Lu and Stanley Love astronauts have come up with a much softer solution. They argue that it could deflect such a dangerous asteroid by applying gravity.

Their plan was to use an unmanned spacecraft called '' gravity tractor ''. The spacecraft will hover near the asteroid for several months or years. The small gravitational force that the spacecraft impacts on asteroids, perhaps only about 0.2kg, will be enough to nudge that object into a slightly different orbit. Therefore, it is possible to prevent collision between it and the Earth.

For example, to deflect a 210m long asteroid, the two astronauts thought that a 20-ton spacecraft needed to be shaped like a pendulum. The heaviest part of the spacecraft will be near the most asteroid. Spacecraft operated by nuclear energy. This will create the greatest gravitational force as well as contribute to keeping the spacecraft stable as it flies near the asteroid.

However, the first test in practice could be carried out for 99942 Apophis asteroid, weighing about 50 million tons and 300-400m long. The ability of this asteroid to crash into Earth in 2036 is extremely small.

Love and Lu said that if a spacecraft was launched there before 2029, when the asteroid passed through the Earth at close range, the job would be relatively easy. Just a 1-ton spacecraft could adjust Apophis's orbit.

Minh Son