My investigation of the Near Earth Object (NEO) catalog has led to identi#12;fication of numerous short duration, under 40 days, mission opportunities in the future for three different mission types: uncrewed y-by, uncrewed arrival, and crewed arrival. 2-body propagation techniques were used to model the orbits of various asteroid candidates and the Earth to determine when a close approach would occur. Once the dates were calculated, distance between the bodies was computed to estimate the (Delta)V to complete the mission. From the mission (Delta)V values, a possible mission duration was also computed. The values were analyzed to determine the best options for the mission types described above. One candidate is presented for the uncrewed y-by opportunity, three for the uncrewed arrival mission, and four more for a potential crewed mission. The results show that a short duration mission is not only possible but should be strongly considered in the near future. These short duration missions are in sharp contrast to the common multi-month or year long duration proposals. Among the other wealth and resource bene#12;ts, short duration asteroid missions are of supreme importance for planetary defense and maintaining a powerful US space presence.
SHORT DURATION MISSIONS TO EARTH CROSSING ASTEROIDS
2016
123 pages
Report
No indication
English
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