© The Aerospace Corporation 2014

Development of Hands-on Introductory Planetary Defense Course

Nahum MelamedJason StoutThe Aerospace Corporation2 October 2014

2

Outline

• Background and Objective

• Planetary Defense Tools

• Near Earth Object Deflection Simulator

• Planetary Defense Class

• Conclusions

3

Background and Objective

• Planetary defense is about protecting our planet from potentially threatening Near Earth Objects

• With the recent close passage to Earth of several identified asteroids, the Near Earth Object threat is becoming recognized as a serious issue for planetary defense

• U.S. Government and international studies, and international conferences and workshops give importance to public education and developing tools in support of this issue

Meteor Strike Over Chelyabinsk, Russia, 15 Feb 2013

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/multimedia/pia16828.html

4

Background and Objective

• U.S. and international space agencies have existing assets and infrastructure that are both necessary and appropriate for successful planetary defense campaign

• These agencies are likely to play a key role in planetary defense, if it is required

• The Aerospace Corporation is contributing by developing relevant Planetary Protection tools and classes, and by creating awareness among its community of experts and in the general public

5

Planetary Defense Tools

• The need to act was recognized by the U.S. Government

• In August of 2008, the U.S. Air Force received a formal nomination to include natural impact events in Air Force strategic planning activities from NASA Headquarters

• Later in the same year, the US Air Force hosted a natural impact event interagency planning exercise that published the following insight:

“…there is a deficit in software tools to support senior decision-making and strategic communication for disaster response and mitigation for a NEO scenario1.”

1 http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/Natural_Impact_After_Action_Report.pdf

6

Planetary Defense Tools

Parameters defining planetary defense tools:

• The tools should bring together launch vehicle capabilities, launch windows, astrodynamic mission planning and optimization, mass staging, deflection modeling, and Earth-miss criteria

• The tools would easily allow to vary independent variables such as space vehicle mass, time of launch, launch vehicle payload, time of rendezvous, Earth-miss distance

• The tools should assess mission options and factors influencing mission decision and help establish decision triggers

• The tools would inform national leaders what options exist for deflection and why one option is preferred over another

7

NEO Deflection Simulator

• The Aerospace Corporation has developed, with NASA funding and guidance, an online interactive physics based NEO deflection simulator in response to U.S. and international findings and recommendations

• The tool is used for visualization of real-world examples by elucidating NEO deflection issues in an understandable fashion to non-specialists as well as serve as a design aid for experts

• The kinetic impact method of asteroid deflection is implemented because it is deployable on short notice with moderate engineering development and is likely to be the method of choice for the most likely threats (small and medium size objects)

• Flight software perspective– Software development and testing– Mission design and software/parameters loading– Autonomous flight– Terminal guidance– Detonation timing

8

NEO Deflection Design Process

Deflection Mission Geometry Deflection Mission Design Process

9

NEO Deflection Simulator

• The primary goal of the NEO deflection tool is to bring public awareness and education, and to provide relevant information via web pages as a part of an existing NASA JPL NEO web portal

• The tool is designed to enable experts, students and non-specialists to acquire insight in an intuitive way on how planetary defense systems might be engineered to form an effective deflection campaign

• The tool supports planetary defense exercises and conferences

• The tool is demonstrated to students and science teachers at Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) school outreach talks and presentations

10

Planetary Defense Class

• An introductory planetary defense class was developed at The Aerospace Corporation to bring together likely stakeholders and experts, and raise awareness and educate the general public on the NEO impact threat

• The class engages participants with hands-on deflection exercises using the NEO deflection simulator described above

• The user selects a simulated Earth impacting asteroid from the list of fictitious objects and interacts with the tool to discover feasible and effective NEO deflection strategies

• The class has been instructed 6 times to date at The Aerospace Corporation

11

Credits and Contacts

• Class development sponsored by The Aerospace Institute, Victoria Hines• NEO simulator development is a collaborative effort between Aerospace

and JPL

• Aerospace Team:– Instructor, NEO simulator development lead: Nahum.Melamed@aero.org

– NEO tool development (2013 – current)Jason.A.Stout@aero.org

– NEO tool layout, technical support and validationJason.P.Anderson@aero.org

– NEO tool development (2011 – 2012): Eyal Amir

– Instrumental contributors: Bill Ailor, John McVey, Glenn Peterson, Chris Ranieri, David Garza

• NASA/JPL Team– Lindley Johanson, NEO Program Executive, NASA HQ

– Don Yeomans, Paul Chodas, Steve Chesley, Alan Chamberlin, Damon Landau, Jon Giorgini

12

Planetary Defense Class

• Participants examine effects of deflection impulses in the along-track, cross-track and normal directions

• The tool accounts for NEO characteristic information and launch vehicle data to find feasible deflection solutions by selecting launch and deflection times, and the number of launches

• This process highlights the value of early NEO discovery and the effect of uncertainties on deflection performance

• Intended users of the NEO simulator and class audience include:– The Aerospace Corporation’s experts and customers wishing to familiarize

themselves with the topic and with key deflection campaign elements– Planetary Defense exercise participants looking at mitigation options that

inform decisions– College instructors and their students delving into the math and science

behind the tool– Inspired 7th-12th grade students and science teachers– High school science teachers for continuation education purposes

13

Planetary Defense Class Exercise

Deflection Simulator Exercise with an Apollo Near Earth Object

Change deflection mission design parameters in the upper left panel, and interactively observe amount of deflection achieved on the B-plane in the lower right panel

14

Conclusion

• The threat of a NEO impacting Earth is real based on evidence of past strikes and the associated consequences, and the probabilities of future events computed by scientists

• The Aerospace Corporation developed– NEO deflection simulator for NASA

– Planetary Defense class to inform, raise awareness and train potential planetary defenders

• Purpose is to increase general awareness and inform possible contributors to planetary defense efforts in the future

© The Aerospace Corporation 2014

Thank you