Speaker Night: Asteroids and Spacecraft Missions to Asteroids

Talk Synopsis

Interest in spacecraft missions to asteroids has been steadily increasing in recent years. The talk will start with an introduction to the fundamental characteristics of asteroids and the reasons behind the current interest. This will be followed by a description of the past and current asteroid missions. One of the necessary elements in designing an asteroid mission is the understanding of the dynamical behaviour of the spacecraft in the vicinity of the asteroid. This behaviour can be quite complex and sometimes very different from that around a large body such as the Earth or another planet. This is so because the highly irregular shape of an asteroid along with its rotational state can lead to a gravitational field that can be significantly different from the standard inverse square field. A brief discussion of the dynamics of a spacecraft orbiting either a single asteroid or a binary asteroid system will be presented.

Bio:  Prof. Arun K. Misra is currently the Thomas Workman Professor Emeritus in the Department of Mechanical Engineering as well as a member of the Institute for Aerospace Engineering at McGill University in Montreal. His research interests are in the areas of spacecraft dynamics and control, tethered satellites, space debris and space robotics. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) as well as of the American Astronautical Society (AAS). He has been elected to the International Academy of Astronautics and to the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He is a Co-Editor of the international journal Acta Astronautica. He has received several awards such as the Dirk Brouwer Award of the American Astronautical Society and the Distinguished Service Award of the International Astronautical Federation.

Banner Credit:  NASA