2023-07-11 06:00:09
In 2013, the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia was hit by a house-sized asteroid. This incident has revived fears regarding small asteroids, which, despite their size, can cause significant damage. Nahum Melamed, a project leader (A project is an irreversible commitment of uncertain, non-repeatable result a…) at the Aerospace Corporation, then had an idea: why not use the regolith from the asteroid (An asteroid is a celestial object whose dimensions vary by a few tens…) itself to deviate its trajectory (The trajectory is the line described by any point of a moving object, and…) away from the Earth (Earth is the third planet in the Solar System in order of distance…)?
An illustration of the proposed centrifuge for collecting regolith from the surface of an asteroid and sending it into space.
Illustration: Nahum Melamed
This idea materialized in the design of an asteroid deflection system. Once landed on the asteroid, the system, operating like a centrifuge, collects small quantities of regolith (less than 10 kg each time) and ejects them into space. This action causes the asteroid to move back slightly, thus gradually changing its trajectory. By repeating this process for weeks or even months, the asteroid might be deflected enough not to crash into Earth.
The centrifuge is a fairly simple electrically operated system and might, in theory (The word theory comes from the Greek word theorein, which means “to contemplate, observe,…), operate indefinitely. According to the Aerospace Corporation, small asteroids (30 to 60 meters) might be deflected in a few weeks, while larger asteroids might take several months.
Implementing this concept would be easier than for other concepts, such as NASA’s DART mission, which consisted of directly impacting an asteroid to modify its trajectory. The asteroid deflection method, as explained by Seth Jacobson, assistant professor of planetary sciences at Michigan State University, consists in transforming the regolith of the asteroid itself into a propulsive mass. An idea that he finds “very creative”.
The Aerospace Corporation plans to test its planetary defense system within two years with a trial on Earth, building a small prototype that can be tested in the laboratory. If all goes well, the company plans to test its system on the Moon (The Moon is Earth’s only natural satellite and the fifth-largest satellite of the…), launching pieces of regolith from the lunar surface (For namesakes, see Pierrot lunaire, a work of vocal music by Arnold Schönberg.).
Currently, NASA is monitoring 28,000 near-Earth asteroids and none of them pose a threat to Earth in the next 100 years. In the meantime, the Aerospace Corporation plans to use its centrifugal system for commercial purposes, such as extracting useful resources from asteroids.
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