Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
3.4
2.1
Journals
Aerospace
Special Issues
Asteroid Impact Avoidance
share announcement

Asteroid Impact Avoidance

A special issue of Aerospace (ISSN 2226-4310). This special issue belongs to the section "Astronautics & Space Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 1327

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Mingtao Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Interests: planetary defense; astrodynamics; trajectory optimization; mission analysis
Prof. Dr. Qingbo Gan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Interests: space debris; celestial mechanics; precision orbit determination

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Near-Earth asteroid (NEA) impacts pose a significant threat to life on Earth. Planetary defense is thus essential for the survival of human civilization and represents a critical effort in building a community with a shared future for all mankind. In 2022, the successful implementation of the DART mission marked the beginning of a new era in planetary defense. In the future, the international community, including China, will launch more planetary defense missions, including reconnaissance missions, orbit deflection and disruption missions, and space-based survey missions.

This Special Issue of Aerospace aims to cover recent research efforts on asteroid impact avoidance, including, but not limited to, ground- and space-based surveys, astrometric follow-up, radar tracking, photometry and spectroscopy, orbit evolution, orbit deflection and disruption technologies, initial and precise orbit determination, impact risk assessment, and impact hazards evaluation. Contributions on concepts and mission analyses of future planetary defense missions are welcome. Given the relevance between space debris removal and asteroid deflection techniques, submissions related to space debris modeling, mitigation, and remediation will also be considered.

The editor of this Special Issue invites authors to submit papers addressing the challenges in asteroid impact avoidance to accelerate the progress of planetary defense.

Finally, I would like to thank Yirui Wang and Kaiduo Wang for their valuable works in assisting me with this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Mingtao Li
Prof. Dr. Qingbo Gan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Aerospace is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • near-earth asteroids
  • planetary defense
  • sky survey
  • asteroid characterization
  • orbit deflection
  • asteroid disruption
  • orbit determination
  • risk assessment
  • hazards evaluation
  • space debris modeling, mitigation, and remediation

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

19 pages, 3089 KiB  
Article
Improved Pork-Chop Plot for Asteroid Kinetic Impact Deflection Test Mission Trajectory Optimization
by Kaiduo Wang, Mingtao Li and Jianming Wang
Aerospace 2025, 12(4), 271; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace12040271 - 23 Mar 2025
Viewed by 180
Abstract
For the mission requirements of the preliminary design phase for kinetic impact deflection of asteroids, an improved pork-chop plot design method is proposed which comprehensively considers both engineering constraints and deflection effectiveness. This method enables the visualization of engineering constraints, such as launch [...] Read more.
For the mission requirements of the preliminary design phase for kinetic impact deflection of asteroids, an improved pork-chop plot design method is proposed which comprehensively considers both engineering constraints and deflection effectiveness. This method enables the visualization of engineering constraints, such as launch site, launch vehicle, and impact visibility, as well as the deflection distance after impact, all within a single plot. It provides a set of initial values that meet the requirements within the designated window for subsequent trajectory correction, based on different mission needs. Based on the patched conic technique, this paper first establishes a dynamical model for the spacecraft’s trajectory to the asteroid and then determines the parameters for both Earth departure and asteroid impact by solving the Lambert problem. Then, based on the departure parameters, the expression for Earth parking orbit escape is derived, and the constraints of rocket coasting time and launch site latitude, respectively, are transformed into parameter constraints on the argument of perigee and launch declination. Based on the impact parameters, an asteroid deflection dynamics model is established to compute the asteroid’s apparent magnitude and deflection distance. Finally, the improved pork-chop plot is generated using the aforementioned models. The plot comprehensively displays the optimized target parameters and engineering constraint parameters throughout the entire process, from launch vehicle departure to the post-impact deflection distance, within the given launch window. This provides initial values that satisfy both engineering constraints and mission requirements for the trajectory design of an in-orbit kinetic impactor asteroid deflection test mission. Compared to other trajectory design methods that provide only a single trajectory, the improved pork-chop plot enables a rapid, intuitive, and comprehensive visualization of a cluster of launch trajectories within the feasible window that satisfy engineering constraints. This approach reduces the number of iterations required for matching the deep-space transfer trajectory with the launch vehicle injection phase from more than five to one. The proposed method can serve as a valuable reference for target selection and trajectory optimization in in-orbit validation missions for kinetic impact deflection of asteroids. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Asteroid Impact Avoidance)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

32 pages, 12317 KiB  
Article
Analysis of Observation Modes for Space-Based Inverse Synthetic Aperture Lidar Based on Target Characteristics
by Ruimin Shen, Jingpeng Zhang, Lei Dong, Zhenzhen Zheng and Haiying Hu
Aerospace 2025, 12(3), 236; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace12030236 - 14 Mar 2025
Viewed by 272
Abstract
With the increasing congestion in orbital environments, on-orbit observation has become critical for spacecraft safety. This study investigated the observation performance of space-based inverse synthetic aperture lidar (ISAL) for monitoring on-orbit targets and space debris in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) and low Earth [...] Read more.
With the increasing congestion in orbital environments, on-orbit observation has become critical for spacecraft safety. This study investigated the observation performance of space-based inverse synthetic aperture lidar (ISAL) for monitoring on-orbit targets and space debris in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) and low Earth orbit (LEO). Using STK simulations, the performances under fly-around and fly-by scenarios were evaluated based on three key parameters: minimum imaging time, pulse repetition frequency (PRF), and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The results reveal that while the GEO provided a high PRF and SNR for fly-around observations, longer imaging times limited its practical application, making the fly-by mode more suitable. In contrast, the LEO provided stable fly-around observations with lower system requirements, but the fly-by mode suffered from high PRF demands and a low SNR due to the high relative angular velocity of the target. This study further simulated fly-by observations for actual space debris in both the GEO and LEO, validating ISAL’s performance under different conditions. These findings offer valuable insights into the selection of observation modes and the optimization of ISAL’s performance in on-orbit target and debris monitoring, serving as a foundation for future space-based monitoring systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Asteroid Impact Avoidance)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop