Monday, October 17, 2005
Novel asteroid deflection vehicle
I've been meaning to write this up as an article for more than a year, so this quick note will have to do. It seems to me the best craft to deflect asteroids (particularly delicate or spinning ones) would be simple, if apparently a bit wasteful: glue two ion engines with equal thrust back to back so that they produce no relative motion of the craft, bring this device near the asteroid and point the emissions of one engine at the asteroid. If this can be done precisely enough that some ice boils there, so much the better.
A craft with one engine would do, if the engine were flipped (rotating against a counterweight) repeatedly, to "pogo" it first toward and then away from the asteroid, so that half of the time it was modifying the asteroid's orbit. Such a craft is within present technology, and could be built and deployed quickly.
Russell Johnston
A craft with one engine would do, if the engine were flipped (rotating against a counterweight) repeatedly, to "pogo" it first toward and then away from the asteroid, so that half of the time it was modifying the asteroid's orbit. Such a craft is within present technology, and could be built and deployed quickly.
Russell Johnston
