The European Space Agency (ESA) is studying how best to protect Earth from the impact of an asteroid or comet, and has awarded funding for six European proposals to track and analyse near-Earth objects (NEOs). The proposals, from European industry and academia, range from establishing an Earth-orbiting observation post, to hitting NEOs with a satellite or landing on them.
The Spaceguard Central Node, based at ESA's space research institute in Rome, Italy, co-ordinates and supports NEO research. Andrés Gálvez, an ESA panel member involved in the downselection, says: "The six winning proposals were selected because the mission concepts would help to answer essential questions on the NEO threat such as: how many are there; what is their size and mass; are they compact bodies or loose rock aggregates?"
UK research agency Qinetiq is leading a proposal to send a fleet of microsatellites to rendezvous with several asteroids and comets over the next decade. The 120kg (264lb), 600mm (23.6in), low-cost satellites would target NEOs between 400m (1,300ft) and 1,300m diameter of different composition. The project, entitled Smallsat Intercept Missions to Objects Near Earth (SIMONE), would use microsatellites based on a single design, piggyback-launched on an Ariane 5 booster. From orbit they would use Qinetiq's T5 ion propulsion engine powered by an ultra-lightweight, high-power solar array to intercept target NEOs.
The Don Quixote proposal, from Spain's Deimos Space, aims to hit an NEO at over 10km/s (6 miles/s) with its Hidalgo probe, while a second probe, Sancho, observes from a safe distance. The impact would provide details of the NEO's mass and composition and could potentially validate methods of deflecting the orbit of an NEO.
The Astrium-lead Ishtar proposal would use ground-penetrating radar tomography from orbit around an NEO to map its composition to a depth of 100-200m (330-650ft). Earthguard 1 from Germany's Kayser-Threde and Euneos from France's Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur and Alcatel Space both plan to search for NEOs from a heliocentric orbit inside the Earth's.
Source: Flight International
