Rapid Solar Sail Rendezvous Missions to Asteroid 99942 Apophis

DOI: 10.2514/1.37141Different concepts for eliminating the threat of collision with a near-Earth object have been suggested in recentyears.Mostofthemrequirethataprobeisinsertedinorbitaroundtheobjecttoobtainaccuratephysicalandorbitaldata.Asteroid99942ApophisisamemberoftheAtengroupofasteroids,havingorbitalperiodsshorterthan1year.Suchanasteroidisusedhereasapracticalexampletoinvestigatethecharacteristicsofnewmissionconceptsandasacandidateforapotentialspaceagencyprojectaimedtotaganasteroideitherforscientificpurposesorforadeflectionmissiondecision.Thepurposeofthispaperistoinvestigatethepotentialitiesofferedbyasolar-sail-basedrendezvousmissiontowardApophis.Inparticular,rapidtransfertrajectoriesarestudied,thatis,missionswhosetransfertimesare less than one terrestrial year. We show that a realistic near-term mission option, with a transfer time of about300days,requiresasolarsailwithacharacteristicaccelerationof0

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