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Planetary Defense, Space Debris and Near-Earth Objects
With the increasing presence of space debris and the potential risk posed by near-Earth objects (NEOs) colliding with Earth, it is important to understand ongoing and future coordination efforts for Earth and Space safety, including hazard characterization, search, and detection activities as well as mitigation techniques and technologies.
This collection features research insights contributing on topics such as monitoring and characterization of NEOs and space debris, risk management, numerical modelling of realistic impact scenarios, space safety, debris removal techniques, asteroid deflection, and policy developments. Filter by section:All, Planetary Defense, Space Debris, and Near-Earth Objects
The fast-spinning primary of the Didymos near-earth asteroid binary system was found to have a degraded top shape by the DART (NASA) mission. Here, authors find that these surface features observed in the asteroid are more likely to have been caused by collisional effects than by the YORP effect.
On September 26th 2022, LICIACube monitored Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission impact on asteroid Dimorphos, which is the smaller component of a binary asteroid system. These close observations revealed the impact ejecta features of the first planetary defence test with a kinetic impactor.
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission intentionally impacted the asteroid Dimorphos on September 26, 2022, and this kinetic impact changed Dimorphos’ orbit around its binary companion Didymos. This first planetary defense test explored technological readiness for this method of asteroid deflection.