Toward directed energy planetary defense
Asteroids and comets that cross Earth’s orbit pose a credible risk of impact, with potentially severe disturbances to Earth and society. We propose an orbital planetary defense system capable of heating the surface of potentially hazardous objects to the vaporization point as a feasible approach to...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/88427 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8847-3448 |
| _version_ | 1826208893756243968 |
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| author | Lubin, Philip Hughes, Gary B. Bible, Johanna Bublitz, Jesse Arriola, Josh Motta, Caio Suen, Jon Johansson, Isabella Riley, Jordan Sarvian, Nilou Clayton-Warwick, Deborah Wu, Jane Milich, Andrew Oleson, Mitch Pryor, Mark Krogen, Peter Ra Kangas, Miikka O’Neill, Hugh |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Lubin, Philip Hughes, Gary B. Bible, Johanna Bublitz, Jesse Arriola, Josh Motta, Caio Suen, Jon Johansson, Isabella Riley, Jordan Sarvian, Nilou Clayton-Warwick, Deborah Wu, Jane Milich, Andrew Oleson, Mitch Pryor, Mark Krogen, Peter Ra Kangas, Miikka O’Neill, Hugh |
| author_sort | Lubin, Philip |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Asteroids and comets that cross Earth’s orbit pose a credible risk of impact, with potentially severe disturbances to Earth and society. We propose an orbital planetary defense system capable of heating the surface of potentially hazardous objects to the vaporization point as a feasible approach to impact risk mitigation. We call the system DE-STAR, for Directed Energy System for Targeting of Asteroids and exploRation. The DE-STAR is a modular-phased array of kilowatt class lasers powered by photovoltaic’s. Modular design allows for incremental development, minimizing risk, and allowing for technological codevelopment. An orbiting structure would be developed in stages. The main objective of the DE-STAR is to use focused directed energy to raise the surface spot temperature to ∼3000 K, sufficient to vaporize all known substances. Ejection of evaporated material creates a large reaction force that would alter an asteroid’s orbit. The baseline system is a DE-STAR 3 or 4 (1- to 10-km array) depending on the degree of protection desired. A DE-STAR 4 allows initial engagement beyond 1 AU with a spot temperature sufficient to completely evaporate up to 500-m diameter asteroids in 1 year. Small objects can be diverted with a DE-STAR 2 (100 m) while space debris is vaporized with a DE-STAR 1 (10 m). |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:14:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/88427 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:14:17Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/884272022-10-01T19:58:15Z Toward directed energy planetary defense Lubin, Philip Hughes, Gary B. Bible, Johanna Bublitz, Jesse Arriola, Josh Motta, Caio Suen, Jon Johansson, Isabella Riley, Jordan Sarvian, Nilou Clayton-Warwick, Deborah Wu, Jane Milich, Andrew Oleson, Mitch Pryor, Mark Krogen, Peter Ra Kangas, Miikka O’Neill, Hugh Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Krogen, Peter Ra Asteroids and comets that cross Earth’s orbit pose a credible risk of impact, with potentially severe disturbances to Earth and society. We propose an orbital planetary defense system capable of heating the surface of potentially hazardous objects to the vaporization point as a feasible approach to impact risk mitigation. We call the system DE-STAR, for Directed Energy System for Targeting of Asteroids and exploRation. The DE-STAR is a modular-phased array of kilowatt class lasers powered by photovoltaic’s. Modular design allows for incremental development, minimizing risk, and allowing for technological codevelopment. An orbiting structure would be developed in stages. The main objective of the DE-STAR is to use focused directed energy to raise the surface spot temperature to ∼3000 K, sufficient to vaporize all known substances. Ejection of evaporated material creates a large reaction force that would alter an asteroid’s orbit. The baseline system is a DE-STAR 3 or 4 (1- to 10-km array) depending on the degree of protection desired. A DE-STAR 4 allows initial engagement beyond 1 AU with a spot temperature sufficient to completely evaporate up to 500-m diameter asteroids in 1 year. Small objects can be diverted with a DE-STAR 2 (100 m) while space debris is vaporized with a DE-STAR 1 (10 m). United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA California Space Grant, NASA NNX10AT93H) 2014-07-17T20:20:08Z 2014-07-17T20:20:08Z 2014-02 2013-12 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0091-3286 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/88427 Lubin, Philip, Gary B. Hughes, Johanna Bible, Jesse Bublitz, Josh Arriola, Caio Motta, Jon Suen, et al. “Toward Directed Energy Planetary Defense.” Opt. Eng 53, no. 2 (February 18, 2014): 025103. SPIE ©2014. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8847-3448 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.53.2.025103 Optical Engineering Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) SPIE |
| spellingShingle | Lubin, Philip Hughes, Gary B. Bible, Johanna Bublitz, Jesse Arriola, Josh Motta, Caio Suen, Jon Johansson, Isabella Riley, Jordan Sarvian, Nilou Clayton-Warwick, Deborah Wu, Jane Milich, Andrew Oleson, Mitch Pryor, Mark Krogen, Peter Ra Kangas, Miikka O’Neill, Hugh Toward directed energy planetary defense |
| title | Toward directed energy planetary defense |
| title_full | Toward directed energy planetary defense |
| title_fullStr | Toward directed energy planetary defense |
| title_full_unstemmed | Toward directed energy planetary defense |
| title_short | Toward directed energy planetary defense |
| title_sort | toward directed energy planetary defense |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/88427 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8847-3448 |
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