6 research outputs found
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Planetary Defense team project: READI (Roadmap for EArth Defense Initiatives)
Planetary Defense is a complex problem, not well understood by policy makers and the general public. The recent Chelyabinsk incident in Russia created temporary international attention but has failed to effectively stimulate public action. The lack of long-term attention to cosmic hazards has resulted in limited funding to defend our planet. Hence, it is hard to realistically address this challenge and achieve the high test and operational readiness needed for an effective Planetary Defense strategy. To address this problem, we have created a set of recommendations for the development of a Planetary Defense Program, for the purpose of contributing to the protection of Earth from asteroids and comets. The SSP15 READI Project focused on threats for which there is only a short-term warning, specifically a warning of two years or less from detection of the object to impact. We have provided recommendations in five areas of Planetary Defense including detection and tracking, deflection techniques, global collaboration, outreach and education, and evacuation and recovery. We have applied this set of recommendations in a narrative scenario to make our report more impactful and engaging. We contrast optimistic and pessimistic outcomes for a comet threat, differing from each other in terms of the level of readiness achieved during the years leading up to the discovery of the threat. In our optimistic scenario, the deflection system has achieved high test and operational readiness. The world’s governments have realized the importance of being prepared against cosmic hazards and put in place all of the necessary measures for a successful defense, leading to a positive deflection of the comet. In contrast, in the pessimistic scenario no preparation is done before the detection, and the comet strikes a heavily populated area releasing energy equivalent to 80 times the most powerful nuclear bomb ever detonated. The recommendations that we have identified in this report constitute a roadmap to avoid this horrible outcome, and we believe they should be taken seriously and swiftly implemented
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The European Space Agency (ESA) moon challenge: Pandeia team technical report
The ESA Moon Challenge was an International Student Contest that focused on human-robotic partnership for lunar exploration as part of the Symposium Moon 2020-2030: A new Era of Human and Robotic Exploration. The Challenge required participants to design mission scenarios for ESA’s HERACLES study. The Pandeia proposal aims to establish the groundwork for permanent human presence and exploration of the Moon through a cost reduction approach, focused on reusability and in situ resource utilization (ISRU). The proposal consists of four trips to the lunar surface in a landing site near the South Pole. These trips are a progressive and realistic set of technology development and demonstration missions, which build the basics for a lunar ISRU infrastructure and eventually lead to the resumption of human operations on the lunar surface. The diversity of the Pandeia Team, formed by alumni of the International Space University, allowed the team to cover many of the most important aspects of the problem, from science goals and engineering to outreach considerations
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The International Space University Space Studies Program 2015 Planetary Defense Project
Asteroid and cometary impacts on planetary bodies are a natural, ongoing residual process that remind us of solar system genesis and evolution. Established spacefaring countries are currently working on plans to engage the world community of nations in dealing with this threat that has already caused recent havoc in the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia.
Defending our home planet against hazardous asteroids and comets is a very high priority issue because a high energy impact by larger objects has the potential to literally wipe out large population centers, decimate flora and fauna, upset our fragile climate and cause incalculable damage to critical physical infrastructure. So it is imperative that we prepare to defend our home planet, especially since new technologies allow us to do so. Space systems and allied technologies must play a key role in planetary defense. However the advanced systems and technologies to be employed will also require unprecedented cooperation and coordination among nations that can only be achieved using state of the art information and communication networks that are maturing right now. Global involvement and innovative and agile organizations, creative structures in policy making and governance are a prerequisite for agile action that is necessary for effective response.
Since asteroid or comet impact poses a global threat, like climate change, Planetary Defense aspires to all humanity. Technologies are maturing that can be commissioned to mitigate this threat. It is imperative that we find ways to integrate all peoples and nation states in this global endeavor. Nations and their space agencies are currently joining forces to examine the problem.
The International Space University (ISU) Space Studies Program (SSP) will hold its 28th summer session at the Ohio University, Athens, Ohio between June 08 and August 07, 2015. Over a hundred highly qualified graduate and post graduate students as well as young space professionals in leadership roles selected from a large pool of candidates from various space agencies around the globe will once again come together to study space exploration in a interdisciplinary, intercultural and international environment, with experts informing them on all aspects of space activity. They will explore the future of space activity and create innovative concepts for all the world to engage in and share. One of the team projects selected for this session is planetary defense.
This paper and presentation will report on the findings and recommendations of the 2015 ISU SSP Planetary Defense team project
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NASA’s in-situ materials challenge: team ISU final report
Transforming in situ materials such as regolith or basalt into useful structural elements is a significant way to reduce the mass of materials launched as payload from Earth. Considering exploration on Mars, for every kilogram of native materials used, one saves 11 kg of transportation propellant and spacecraft mass required to launch to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Given the cost for LEO is US110,000/kg of cost by using 1 kg of in situ materials, making space pioneering on Mars more affordable and feasible. One could use surface-based materials such as regolith or basalt to produce structural elements that can be interconnected to create launch/landing pads; blast protection berms; roads and walkways; radiation, thermal, and micro-meteorite shielding insulation and structures; equipment shelters; pressure vessels for fluids storage; ablative atmospheric entry heat shields; construction foundations; and other useful structures