Changing the Spin of an Asteroid -A Kinetic-Impactor Demonstration Mission

Abstract

We present a concept for a kinetic impactor demonstration mission that aims to change the spin rate of an asteroid rather than the orbit of the asteroid around the Sun or, for example, the orbital motion of a moon around its primary. Similar information to the aforementioned existing concepts could be obtained by measuring the change in the spin period of an asteroid resulting from an impact that transfers significant angular momentum to the asteroid, i.e. a large value of mi vi d sinθ (see Figure 1). The mission can be either a mission with an impactor and an observer spacecraft, or one with only an impactor, where the change in the spin period will be measured from Earth-based telescopes.