Using a Directed Energy System to Deflect Asteroids

Asteroid impacts on or near the earth are a serious and ongoing problem. Impacts of considerable sizes can cause millions of dollars in damage and result in many human casualties. The DE-STAR [1][5][6](Directed Energy System for Targeting of Asteroids and exploRation) project aims to solve this issue by utilizing the asteroid in question. The idea behind this project is to use a directed energy system, in this case a laser, to ablate the incoming asteroid and have the resulting mass ejection propel the asteroid out of earth’s orbital path[1][2][3][4][5][6]. However, different materials have varying amounts of thrust when ablated that need to be considered before taking action. My specific project consists of testing an assortment of different materials and observing their respective thrusts in order to determine how asteroids of different compositions should be handled.