The model was developed by nine students as part of a final project, which was also submitted to a NASA competition
In the photo: the two intruders and their fuel tank between them
Students from the Faculty of Aeronautics and Space Engineering at the Technion have developed a model for diverting celestial bodies that may harm the Earth. The model was developed because of the fear that an asteroid called Apophis might come close enough to hit the Earth in 2036.
For an hour students participated in the project, under the direction of Dr. Alexander Kogan and the project center Professor Benny Landkoff. It was their final project that lasted about a year and was submitted to a competition by NASA and the American Aerospace Industries.
"The diameter of the asteroid is 400 meters and its impact on the Earth could be of tremendous force that would destroy an area with a radius of 200 kilometers," says Dr. Kogan. "The students built a model that will cost 353 million dollars (the organizers of the competition demanded that the cost not exceed 500 million dollars). It is based on a spacecraft weighing a ton that will launch intruders to the asteroid."
The student Lior Avital, who coordinated the project, explains that according to the model, the spacecraft is supposed to go into space in 2020. After about a year, it will approach the asteroid and launch two interlopers carrying scientific equipment, a camera, a transmitter and an antenna with extremely strong transmission power. So that the sensitive equipment is not damaged when the intruders penetrate the asteroid, a special airbag will be installed on them which will inflate upon penetration and cushion the impact. Solar surfaces will be installed on the pad which will provide the electrical energy for the equipment on the penetrator.
The transmitter will transmit data on the asteroid's location and composition to Earth. The spaceship will meanwhile start its way back towards Earth, with two additional interlopers on board, for use when needed.
The intruders that will penetrate the asteroid will check its composition and location and send the results to Earth. If it turns out that it is indeed going to collide with the Earth, the spacecraft will be sent to it again in 2025 and by its gravity will begin to deviate from its orbit. However, due to the mass differences between it and the asteroid, it will not be able to deflect with sufficient force, and it will be necessary to use the mass of the Earth. Since in 2029 the asteroid is supposed to pass by the Earth, they will use the Earth's mass to deflect it. "It is the spacecraft that will make the difference," explains Lior Avital. "It will divert it one kilometer and with the help of the earth, within seven years - 7000 kilometers, and then the earth will not be harmed."
The nine students tested other alternatives, such as bombarding the asteroid with an atomic bomb, but two large asteroids could come out of the explosion, or worse - many small asteroids, and then the Earth would definitely be damaged.
Another possibility that was tested by them is connecting powerful engines to the asteroid, which would divert it from its orbit, but the students came to the conclusion that this is an expensive and complicated solution with an uncertain result. "A laser cannot be used because there is no laser strong enough for this purpose", they say.
The students who participated in the project are: Lior Avital, Vadim Baru, Leon Zhidovetsky, Sagit Orgal, Mein Kushmarin, Yulia Bronstein, Irina Cherniak, Aino Yishenu and Yrami Edgach.
On the same subject
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Rather, increased laser power for a certain time can at least theoretically intercept rocks close to the earth. It is actually a refinement or amplification of the laser power that is already in use in the defense system of the type: THEL - Tactical High Energy Laser.
Direction, distance estimation, homing on the target and launching the laser beam, it must be noted of course that no communication satellite or spacecraft are in the path of the beam.
Well, what's new here, in every Hollywood movie on the subject, these ideas were brought up...
A more interesting question is how to deflect a black hole moving towards us 🙂 (or we are moving towards it)...
🙂 🙂 🙂
ok Michael, maybe we'll share the idea with Athabner as well?
It seems to me that he is suitable for this, after all, he is "the inventor of such things, isn't he"
Lost:
In the fourth response I offered my own idea.
In the meantime, I also forwarded it to the project manager, but I don't think they will act on it.
What took the asteroid out of its original orbit (if there was such an orbit) is most likely a collision.
It is difficult to expect that another collision will occur that will reverse the effect of the original collision, but if there is a collision, you should hope (and even worry about it) that it will not be a collision with the Earth.
By the way, I suddenly noticed that in response 34 I came out anonymous, so let me make it clear that I am not.
Michael, thank you very much!!!!
To Michael:
You have fed a lot of precise thought here,
So maybe think of an idea of your own,
And I'll give you an idea to start with and pass on to dismissal.
So here is the idea:
If the asteroid came out of the asteroid belt and was there for at least 10,000 years, then maybe it went around a bone (ceres) and came out of it, so what they took out from there might be able to bring it back
Kudos to Julia Bronstein for her part in the project, there is no doubt that your contribution helped to reach a real solution, champion!!!
Avner:
It's just not true.
There are many orbits that collide with the Earth.
More than that - to deflect the asteroid with the help of solar radiation, a lot of time is needed and one must start at a stage when it is not yet clear whether it will hit the Earth or not. You might even end up causing an asteroid that wouldn't have hit Earth to hit it.
To Michael
If the asteroid is on a collision course with the Earth then any change
In its course it is desirable because it will divert it from the point of collision and come to Zion Goel.
Thank you, we won't sleep.
I hope you are not offended that we were joking.
It reminds me of an incident that happened when I was sitting in the dining room at the school I attended as a child when my father was on a mission in Germany.
The kitchen worker came to our table towards the end of the meal and started collecting the glasses.
My brother, who was sitting at Lady's, took my glass and handed it to her.
I, who still wanted to drink, told him "Why did you give it to her?"
All the people at the table burst out laughing and it made me think how such a sentence in Hebrew would really sound in the ears of children who do not speak Hebrew. All the syllables here have an opening or pinch and it gives the impression of some African language.
Thanks Aino.
The meaning of the name Aino Yeshnu
(in Amharic and not Chinese and not Indian)
He is not (we have seen him) we will sleep (the king of the thousands).
A. Ben-Ner:
The problem is not only to influence the track but to influence it in the way we want.
There may be another idea. Color the asteroid black over its expanding parts. A double effect will be created, firstly, its temperature will rise and it is possible that this will result in a loss of water, which will create a gravitational effect similar to the "gravitational tractor". Second, the effect of the radiation's momentum on a black body is greater than its effect on ice, for example, and the addition of the light's momentum will also have an effect on changing the trajectory. The problem is that a technique needs to be developed for efficient and cheap painting of parts that extend across the surface of the asteroid.
Haste from Satan:
I argued about turning part of the energy into rotation, although correct, is not entirely relevant to the matter.
After all, the law of conservation of momentum will continue to work even in this situation and therefore the common center of gravity of the missile and the asteroid will continue to move as it did before the collision regardless of rotation.
This does not change the final conclusion which says that the result is not predictable but it does change a little the reasons for this fact.
The movement of the common center of gravity of the fragments of the missile and the fragments of the asteroid can indeed be predicted, but since there is no way to predict the movement of the fragments there is also no way to predict the movement of the main body that will remain from the asteroid (assuming that only one body remains - otherwise the prediction is even more complicated).
It is interesting to think that if the fragments had been splashed at a low enough speed then it would be possible to calculate the final result because in the end everything would fall back on the asteroid, but the problem is that the escape speed from the asteroid's gravity is extremely low (between a fast walking speed and an easy running speed) so Most of the splashes will never return to the asteroid.
You have to understand that the whole issue is more complex than it might seem at first glance.
The main advantage of the gravitational drag method is its insensitivity to the rotation of the asteroid around its axis and to the strength of the asteroid. Its disadvantages are that it cannot exert a serious force on the asteroid at all (in my estimation, less than twenty grams of force will act on the entire asteroid).
It is also not as simple as it may seem because the towing rocket must pass back and forth near the asteroid when it recovers the height it lost during the passage while it was over the asteroid and not "above it" (so as not to direct the jet of gas emitted from the rocket towards the asteroid and cancel the effect of attraction).
The disadvantage of the network method I described is that it is sensitive to the rotation of the asteroid and in order for it to work you have to let go of the asteroid each time and let the network and engines reorganize (recover from the distortion created in their configuration due to the rotation of the asteroid).
In short - life is not as simple as it seems at first glance and it's good that it continues and allows us to take a second and third look as well.
to map:)
Like you said, sensors can't read the surface of the body.
Leon:
All this is clear.
It is also written in the article.
why did you say that
The sensors placed on the asteroid are able to analyze the structure of the asteroid. Elements of which it is composed, etc. In addition, they make it possible to measure the distance to the asteroid. By prolonged measurement it is possible to find its route precisely.
Conclusion, of course. (Poor her... well, it doesn't matter who, but she is related to JJJJ)
Roy:
The sensors also will not be able to calculate which point on the asteroid's shell you will find between the missile and the center of gravity of the asteroid at the moment of impact (partly because the sensors will not be able to map the surface of the asteroid at all).
They also won't be able to know what the resistance that the asteroid will be able to demonstrate against an impact at this (unknown) point.
All this, of course, beyond the other reservations I raised, which do not at all relate to the information from the sensors and in addition to other reservations that the Technion people must have had time to think about since they passed the age of five.
By the way, while writing these things I came to the predicament that I think I am thinking.
Can I now invoke Descartes' reasoning to return to existence?
Michael,
I thought so, but it is interesting to know if the sensors that the Technion team plans to place on the asteroid will be able to make the missile idea possible. If we can know the asteroid's rotation speed, map it to some degree, and know what materials it is made of, it might work.
Still, I agree that even then it seems like a cumbersome and dangerous way to go about the task.
Thanks for the explanation.
Roy:
(jjjj please don't read)
This is impossible because the very idea of deflecting the asteroid by hitting it without breaking it apart is silly. After all, we have no idea what the strength of the connection between the asteroid particles is.
You yourself have already talked about the fact that rocket engines that will be attached to an asteroid are likely to break apart, and such rocket engines operate much more delicately than a missile that will collide with an asteroid.
This, of course, is even before talking about the point where it must be hit so that the force of the collision will mostly turn into a change of course and not a rotation. There is no way to calculate this point exactly (although you can try to guess).
Beyond that, in order for the missile to accumulate significant energy and be able to affect the asteroid, it needs to accelerate for a long time before impact. In fact, to be effective, it must reach the target after all of its fuel energy has been converted into kinetic energy. This makes the execution even more difficult (if the engine is connected to the asteroid it has no problem working until the fuel runs out).
JJJJ probably likes to belittle everyone - starting with the Technion researchers who must have thought about it (because really - this is the first idea that comes to every five-year-old child - you have to be a little smarter to understand that it's not good). I have already recommended you the book "The Revolt of the Masses" where it is described with vigorous precision.
By the way - I did not write all of the above because I am impossible and therefore do not exist.
Reply to jjjj
An asteroid with a diameter of 400 meters is not small and it is in volume
200x200x200x4x3.14
which are about one hundred million cubic meters which are about two hundred million tons, therefore, a collision of a missile weighing a few tons will not do the job and in addition in a fast collision a large part of the kinetic energy of the missile will be turned into heat that will not act to deflect the asteroid.
Only sustained action on the asteroid will do the trick.
Sabdarmish Yehuda
jjjj –
A 5 year old's mind can understand many things. Among other things, a 5-year-old child can also think that you can shoot a water gun at the sun to put it out, or even that you shouldn't speak politely to people.
Just because he can think like that, doesn't make it right. You can't extinguish the sun with a water gun, and you should always treat people politely.
Michael –
I would love to hear why jjjj's offer is really not possible.
Greetings friends,
Roy.
Well done to everyone and especially to Sagit Orgel for the great investment
To Michael, you are not possible, obviously it is possible and even a five-year-old child's brain can understand it, but it is probably beyond your ability.
Aino Yishenu is an Ethiopian student.
A pretty bright student
By the way - it's probably a Chinese name whose Hebrew translation is present absent 🙂
Jonathan:
It turns out that you can sometimes also enjoy the parts of the article that I usually skip over.
Indeed - an interesting name 🙂
Who is "Ainu Yishen"?
Is this a new invention developed at the Technion? Like Danny Dean who sees and is not seen?
jjjj
Except that it is impossible and will not achieve the desired result really no problem.
What's the problem with simply taking the biggest missile we have like Russia has for example) fill its head with a few tons of concrete or metal even though concrete would be cheaper... and send it at high speed towards the asteroid (400 meters is a pretty small asteroid) so that the impact will divert it from its orbit without Dismantle it, if one missile is not enough you can send one missile after the other until it is diverted from its course.
Ln. in search of wealth
Your idea is nice, but it seems inapplicable to me for the following reasons:
1. First of all, you have to find an asteroid that will be easy enough to change its trajectory and bring it into an almost collision course with the target asteroid. You must remember that this is not only a question of mass but also of the position, direction and speed of the asteroid's current motion.
2. Then the orbit of the deflected asteroid and the orbit of the target asteroid must be calculated with almost unbelievable accuracy
3. Even after all this, a problem will remain because if the asteroid continues on an independent trajectory - without corrections - then it will probably not be possible to ensure that it stays near the target asteroid long enough to have an effect (the advantage of a man-made engine is its ability to adjust its position to achieve maximum effect When talking about changing the Earth's orbit with an asteroid, we are talking about a process that lasts for many years, with each time the asteroid returns and passes over the Earth's surface and deflects it a little more.
How about changing the direction (with the help of the spacecraft) of a smaller asteroid that is in the area of the impacting asteroid, in order to divert the larger asteroid from its path.
borrowed,
It's not exactly accurate.
The economic difficulty undoubtedly plays a role here, but there is a lack of practical solutions and no economic difficulty will prevent a practical solution if it is the only one that can save the human race from extinction (and as we know, there is a high chance - in fact a certainty - that if nothing is done, at some point an asteroid will hit the Earth that will eliminate us).
The solution of diverting one of Jupiter's moons seems impractical - I actually read about an idea to make similar use of one of the asteroids that are approaching us, but it all starts with creating a way to change the orbit of the asteroid - something that should be much simpler than removing a moon of Jupiter from its orbit and bringing it to the right place for us.
Therefore, if you have another idea you should upload it.
If it is also economical it will be very good at all.
If I understand correctly, the main challenge here was the economic challenge, that is to divert the asteroid without exceeding the economic limit, because there is no shortage of solutions at all.
For 30 years now, scientists have come up with the idea of diverting one of Jupiter's moons(!!!) into a well-planned orbit around the Earth(!!!), and thus, in a slow process of tens of millions of years, diverting the total center of mass of both bodies away from the Sun in preparation for its future inflation , thus extending the life of humanity on our blue planet. The limitations mentioned at the time were the huge cost, and of course the fear that someone would get confused in the calculations (even though they still didn't know that it was possible to get confused in the calculations between meters and feet...), and finally that artificial moon would collide with us or cause it to move away too fast.
Bye
The disadvantage of using an engine that will be installed on the asteroid is in two very important aspects:
1. If the asteroid is not strong enough, the engine may disintegrate it (at least in the connection area) and be released
2. It is difficult (actually impossible) to calculate the position and direction in which a single motor should be placed that will deflect the asteroid in the desired direction because for this the asteroid needs to not rotate and even if it is not rotating now - incorrect positioning of the motor will cause it to rotate. A solution using motors requires at least three motors or a single motor that is mounted on a device that allows it to change its direction in any possible way while attached to the asteroid (a device that increases the chances of breaking the connection point).
I've been walking around for a few years now with an idea that it is possible to change the trajectory of an asteroid using a team of (at least) three rocket engines that don't connect to it at all but take it in a kind of giant net.
It seems to me that this way you can overcome all the dangers and achieve much greater effectiveness in towing.
I still haven't found who exactly it's worth offering it to, so maybe posting it here is a start.
Yaron,
I guess the advantage is in the simplicity of the solution. If you want to install rocket engines on the asteroid, you need a skilled team of workers, to know the structure of the asteroid in detail and the materials it is made of, to design a facility that will make sure that the rocket engines will not detach from the asteroid or break it, and so on.
If the rocket engines are on top of the spacecraft itself, then you get rid of all these complicating factors, which are difficult to plan in advance.
How does the solution of diverting using the spacecraft's gravity differ from the solution of using powerful rocket engines?
According to my logic, the force of attraction between the spaceship and the asteroid is just a substitute for a drag strip! That is, rocket engines will still be needed to deflect the asteroid, only they will be on the spacecraft instead of on the surface of the asteroid.
It would actually be more efficient to run those rocket engines to give the spacecraft high speed and then collide with the asteroid. Of course, it is desirable that the collision be elastic and that the asteroid does not disintegrate as a result.
Good luck in the competition.