Planetary Defense and an Energy Infrastructure for Near Earth Space [Point of View]

Author

Fork, Richard ; Burgess, Luke ; Bergstue, Grant ; Gaillard, Randy

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr./Comput. Eng., Univ. of Alabama Huntsville, Huntsville, AL, USA

Volume

99

Issue

3

fYear

2011

fDate

3/1/2011 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

359

Lastpage

362

Abstract

The White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP), in response to recent Congressional action, assigned National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) the task of: "(A) protecting the United States from a near-Earth object that is expected to collide with Earth; and (B) implementing a deflection Digital Object campaign. A "functional analysis" of the task was recommended. A planetary defense strategy was considered to such an analysis. Using lasers in space for planetary defense and space energy infrastructure will reduce the current cost of lift to orbit, remove debris from space, assist in rescuing astronauts in difficulty, and deliver energy to other resources in space, and possibly, even eventually to Earth.

Keywords

asteroids; astronomical instruments; laser beam applications; Earth; NASA; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; OSTP; White House Office of Science and Technology; deflection digital object campaign; functional analysis; near-Earth object; planetary defense strategy; space energy infrastructure; Laser beams; NASA; Space missions; Space technology; Space vehicles;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Proceedings of the IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9219

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JPROC.2010.2096250

Filename

5715591