PACK POINTS
Dodging the big one
NASA's Near Earth Object Program has identified more than 1,000 “potentially hazardous asteroids” in space.
David French is just a normal guy doing his part to save the planet from total annihilation.
French, a doctoral candidate in aerospace engineering, has figured out a way to effectively divert asteroids and other threatening objects from hitting Earth by attaching a long tether and ballast to the incoming object. By attaching the ballast, French explained, “you can change the object’s center of mass, effectively changing the object’s orbit and allowing it to pass by the Earth, rather than impacting it.”
If death by asteroid is not foremost among your concerns, consider this: NASA’s Near Earth Object Program has identified more than 1,000 “potentially hazardous asteroids” in space. Officials are finding more all the time.
“While none of these objects is currently projected to hit Earth in the near future, slight changes in the orbits of these bodies, which would be caused by the gravitational pull of other objects, push from the solar wind or some other effect, could cause an intersection,” French explained.
So French, along with Dr. Andre Mazzoleni, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, studied whether an asteroid-tether-ballast system could effectively alter the motion of an asteroid to prevent a collision with Earth. The answer? Yes.
While using a tether somewhere between 1,000 and 100,000 kilometers might sound extreme, French said, look at the alternatives. Other plans call for painting the asteroids in order to alter how light may influence their orbit, guiding a second asteroid into the threatening one, and blasting the asteroid with nuclear weapons.
“Compare it to other schemes,” French said. “They are
all pretty far out.” 