A kinetic-impactor demonstration mission to change the spin of an asteroid

Abstract

The NEOShield consortium consists of 13 institutes, universities and industrial partners from 6 countries. NEOShield addresses the global issue of preventing a hazardous NEO impact on Earth. The project is funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework programme. A major aim of NEOShield is to design technically and financially realistic deflection demonstration missions. Here we present a low-budget kinetic impactor demonstration mission concept. The mission would determine the efficiency of momentum transfer during an impact, and help mature the technology required for a kinetic impactor mission, both of which are important precursor measures for a future space mission to deflect an asteroid by collisional means in an emergency impact hazard situation. Furthermore, the data gained from the mission would be of great benefit for our understanding of the collisional evolution of asteroids and the physics behind crater and ejecta-cloud development.