Nuclear cycler : an incremental approach to the deflection of asteroids

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Vasile, Massimiliano and Thiry, Nicolas (2016) Nuclear cycler : an incremental approach to the deflection of asteroids. Advances in Space Research, 57 (8). pp. 1805-1819. ISSN 0273-1177 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2015.11.036)

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Abstract

This paper introduces a novel deflection approach based on nuclear explosions: the nuclear cycler. The idea is to combine the effectiveness of nuclear explosions with the controllability and redundancy offered by slow push methods within an incremental deflection strategy. The paper will present an extended model for single nuclear stand-off explosions in the proximity of elongated ellipsoidal asteroids, and a family of natural formation orbits that allows the spacecraft to deploy multiple bombs while being shielded by the asteroid during the detonation.

ORCID iDs

Vasile, Massimiliano ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8302-6465 and Thiry, Nicolas ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6675-097X;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)