Utilization of H-reversal Trajectory of Solar Sail for Asteroid Deflection

TL;DR

This paper explores using a solar sail on an H-reversal trajectory to effectively deflect potentially hazardous asteroids, demonstrating a feasible method to prevent Earth impact with specific parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of H-reversal trajectories of solar sails for asteroid deflection, optimizing sail attitude for impact and analyzing deflection effectiveness.

Findings

A 10 kg solar sail can shift Apophis out of a keyhole area within one year.

Impact velocity increases with larger lightness number and smaller solar distance.

The proposed method can prevent resonant return of dangerous asteroids.

Abstract

Near Earth Asteroids have a possibility of impacting with the Earth and always have a thread on the Earth. This paper proposes a way of changing the trajectory of the asteroid to avoid the impaction. Solar sail evolving in a H-reversal trajectory is utilized for asteroid deflection. Firstly, the dynamics of solar sail and the characteristics of the H-reversal trajectory are analyzed. Then, the attitude of the solar sail is optimized to guide the sail to impact with the object asteroid along a H-reversal trajectory. The impact velocity depends on two important parameters: the minimum solar distance along the trajectory and lightness number. A larger lightness number and a smaller solar distance lead to a higher impact velocity. Finally, the deflection capability of a solar sail impacting with the asteroid along the H-reversal is discussed. The results show that a 10 kg solar sail with a lead-time of one year can move Apophis out of a 600-m keyhole area in 2029 to eliminate the possibility of its resonant return in 2036.