Final Report Project No: 282703 Project Acronym: NEOShield Project Full Name: A Global Approach to Near-Earth Object Impact Threat Mitigation Final Report Period covered: from 01/01/2012 to 31/05/2015 Date of preparation: 06/07/2015 Start date of project: 01/01/2012 Date of submission (SESAM): 05/08/2015 Project coordinator name: Project coordinator organisation name: Prof. Alan Harris DEUTSCHES ZENTRUM FUER LUFT - UND RAUMFAHRT EV Version: 2 Final Report PROJECT FINAL REPORT Grant Agreement number: 282703 Project acronym: NEOShield Project title: A Global Approach to Near-Earth Object Impact Threat Mitigation Funding Scheme: FP7-CP-FP Project starting date: 01/01/2012 Project end date: 31/05/2015 Name of the scientific representative of the Prof. Alan Harris DEUTSCHES ZENTRUM project's coordinator and organisation: FUER LUFT - UND RAUMFAHRT EV Tel: +493067055324 Fax: +493067055303 E-mail:
[email protected] Project website address: www.neoshield.net Project No.: 282703 Page - 2 of 44 Period number: 3rd Ref: 282703_NEOShield_Final_Report-13_20150805_154413_CET.pdf Final Report Please note that the contents of the Final Report can be found in the attachment. 4.1 Final publishable summary report Executive Summary NEOShield was conceived to address realistic options for preventing the collision of a naturally occurring celestial body (near-Earth object, NEO) with the Earth. Three deflection techniques, which appeared to be the most realistic and feasible at the time of the European Commission’s call in 2010, form the focus of NEOShield efforts: the kinetic impactor, in which a spacecraft transfers momentum to an asteroid by impacting it at a very high velocity; blast deflection, in which an explosive, such as a nuclear device, is detonated near, on, or just beneath the surface of the object; and the gravity tractor, in which a spacecraft hovering under power in close proximity to an asteroid uses the gravitational force between the asteroid and itself to tow the asteroid onto a safe trajectory relative to the Earth.