Control of the Motion of Near-Earth Asteroids

Amethod for preventing the collisions of hazardous celestial objects with the Earth by diverting them from the trajectory of their encounter with the Earth is investigated. For this purpose, we propose to use small near-Earth asteroids that are transferred to the trajectories of a gravity-assist maneuver near the Earth by imparting a comparatively small velocity impulse to them. As a result of such a maneuver, a small asteroid is thrown into the hazardous object’s interception orbit. The asteroids suitable for achieving this goal are chosen by solving Lambert’s problem. The same concept is investigated for the problem of transferring asteroids to orbits resonant with the Earth’s orbit so as to open up the possibility of regular missions to such asteroids with the goal of studying them and using their resources. The choice is made by minimizing the mentioned velocity impulse, whose admissible value is assumed to be within the limits that do not exceed 20 m s−1.