Refcode<\/b>: 2018.71.20
\nKeywords<\/b>: Gravitation, Celestial Mechanics, Minor Planets, Asteroids: Individual, 8 Flora, Planets and Satellites: General<\/p>\n
Abstract:<\/b>
\nRecently there has been much discussion on the capture and mining of asteroids. While the technology might be years away, in this paper we will discuss an energy-efficient method of transporting a small asteroid, or materials gathered from asteroids, to Earth. In particular, the paper will concentrate on one of the nearest and largest asteroids – 8 Flora in the Flora family. Generally, asteroids are located 2-3 AU (astronomical units) from Earth, and in transporting materials from asteroids to Earth, an energy equivalent of the gravitational potential energy difference must be dissipated. This amount of potential energy is a sizeable fraction of the orbital kinetic energy of the Earth around the Sun, and with the Earth’s orbital speed at around 29 km\/s, the amount of energy to be dissipated is considerable. In this paper we propose to use the planet Mars as a medium to remove much of the gravitational energy difference through gravity-assisted deceleration (“gravity braking”). To achieve this aim, it is necessary to launch the payload in the reverse direction of the asteroid with a certain velocity; in the case of 8 Flora, this launch velocity is around 3 km\/s. The deceleration could be achieved by non-rocket powered ejection platforms on 8 Flora. The landing velocity on Earth is about 3 km\/s over the escape velocity of the Earth (11.2 km\/s). It is also proposed to separate a pair of contact asteroid binaries by using impulse propulsion, and to propel one component of the separated asteroids to pass by Mars to receive gravity-assisted deceleration to reach the Earth, or to become captured by the Earth or the Moon. The feasibility of this ambitious project will be discussed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10386,"template":"","meta":{"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"pwb-brand":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[56,59,168],"product_tag":[3311,3310,3309,2132,1567,3312],"class_list":["post-10384","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_cat-journal-of-the-bis","product_cat-papers","product_cat-2018papers","product_tag-8-flora","product_tag-asteroids-individual","product_tag-celestial-mechanics","product_tag-gravitation","product_tag-minor-planets","product_tag-planets-and-satellites-general","first","instock","downloadable","virtual","purchasable","product-type-simple","czr-hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"brands":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bis-space.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/10384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bis-space.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bis-space.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bis-space.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bis-space.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"pwb-brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bis-space.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pwb-brand?post=10384"},{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bis-space.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=10384"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bis-space.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=10384"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bis-space.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=10384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}