Optimal Trajectory Design for Interception and Deflection of near Earth Objects

Many asteroids and comets orbit the inner solar system; among them Near Earth Objects (NEOs) are those celestial bodies for which the orbit lies close, and sometimes crosses, the Earth’s orbit. Over the last decades the impact hazard they pose to the Earth has generated heated discussions on the required measures to react to such a scenario. The aim of the research presented in this dissertation is to develop methodologies for the trajectory design of interception and deflection missions to Near Earth Objects. The displacement, following a deflection manoeuvre, of the asteroid at the minimum orbit intersection distance with the Earth is expressed by means of a simple and general formulation, which exploits the relative motion equations and Gauss’ equations. The variation of the orbital elements achieved by any impulsive or low-thrust action on the threatening body is derived through a semi-analytical approach, whose accuracy is extensively shown. This formulation allows the analysis of the optimal direction of the deflection manoeuvre to maximise the achievable deviation. The search for optimal opportunities for mitigation missions is done through a global optimisation approach. The transfer trajectory, modelled through preliminary design techniques, is integrated with the deflection model. In this way, the mission planning can be performed by optimising different contrasting criteria, such as the mass at launch, the warning time, and the total deflection. A set of Pareto fronts is computed for different deflection strategies and considering various asteroid mitigation scenarios. Each Pareto set represents a number of mission opportunities, over a wide domain of launch windows and design parameters. A first set of results focuses on impulsive deflection missions, to a selected group of potentially hazardous asteroids; the analysis shows that the ideal optimal direction of the deflection manoeuvre cannot always be achieved when the transfer trajectory is integrated with the deflection phase. A second set of results