Move An Asteroid 2008

From upper left to lower right (same white line for all images denotes scale): Itokawa, Tempel 1, Eros, Mathilde, Wild 2, Ida, Gaspra, Dactyl
Image Sources: JAXA, NASA PhotoJournal
 
Move An Asteroid 2008: International Student & Young Professional Technical Paper Competition
Sponsored by: Northrop Grumman Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation, SpaceWorks Commercial, and The Planetary Society
Administered by: Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) in support of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications

The Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), through its sponsors, announces an international technical paper competition to develop unique and innovative concepts for how to deflect an asteroid or comet that may impact the Earth (referred to as mitigation). The competition calls for individuals or teams to write and submit a 3-10 page original technical paper on their innovative concept for mitigation. The 1st place award is a trip to present the winning paper at this year's Space Generation Congress (SGC) and International Astronautical Congress (IAC) which take place in Glasgow, Scotland from late September until early October 2008. The 2nd place award is a trip to present at the SGC. Entries are due on 09 June 2008 and winners will be announced on 30 June 2008, the 100th anniversary of the Tunguska Event, the largest asteroid/comet impact event in Earth's recent history.
 

Please see the Move An Asteroid 2008 Flyer (PDF format)

Please see the Move An Asteroid 2008 Press Release: 27 March 2008 (PDF format)

 
CONTENTS
- I. Introduction
- II. Competition Overview
- III. Schedule
- IV. Awards
- V. Paper Submission Details
- VI. Organizational Structure and Judging
- VII. Contact
- VIII. References: Papers
- IX. References: Web Sites
- X. References: Videos
- XI. Eligibility
- XII. Copyright
- XIII. Qualifications
- XIV. About SGAC, SGC, and IAC

I. INTRODUCTION

Both recent observations of planetary bodies and geological records confirm the ever present threats from asteroids and comets that could be large enough to cause the widespread destruction of modern society. For instance, a massive impact occurred in the Tunguska region of Siberia around 30 June 1908, likely from an approximately 45 meter wide asteroid or comet, that devastated several hundred square kilometers with a destructive force equivalent to 3 to 5 megatons of TNT (several hundred times the energy unleashed by an atomic bomb over Hiroshima in 1945). Additionally, the Earth’s surface still shows scars of previous larger-scale impacts. The more massive K-T (Cretaceous-Tertiary) impact (10 km diameter object), which took place approximately 65 million years ago, is believed to have led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. While K-T class impacts are very infrequent, objects with diameters of approximately 1 km can be expected to intercept the Earth every six to seven hundred thousand years.

Clearly, some thought and planning must take place in order to provide a reasonable level of protection against such disastrous events. Identification and cataloging of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) and celestial bodies is an important first step. The question remains: “What should be done if a planetary impactor on a collision course with Earth is actually confirmed?” Effective planetary defense concepts must overcome a variety of challenges including the large variance in size, shape, composition, rotation rate, solid body/rubble pile characteristics, (gravitationally bound), and detection time of NEOs. Economics, reliability, technology constraints, and launch vehicle capacity may limit the size and scope of potential solutions.

II. COMPETITION OVERVIEW

The goal of this competition is to develop innovative and credible planetary defense solutions. The responses should meet the following requirements:

1. Describe in technical detail a concept to move an asteroid or comet that is at least 140 meters in diameter. The contestants should make their own reasonable assumptions on asteroid composition, density, and orbit. The goal is to not constrain the authors of the technical paper with a specific target asteroid or comet. It is suggested that the authors apply their concept on reasonable asteroid/comet examples.

2. This competition is intentionally broad. Concepts can be very widely applicable to a large variety of asteroid/comets or targeted for a specific asteroid/comet. Contestants should attempt to understand the overall challenge of asteroid/comet mitigation. Contestants may want to address how to confirm the effect of their mitigation approach on the asteroid/comet.

3. Contestants may want to address the effects of potential keyholes and the possibility of resonant return impacts (i.e. deflecting into a keyhole). In this scenario, one can deflect an asteroid/comet from a direct Earth impact but its resultant new orbit may not be well known and may include several keyhole passage possibilities, thereby resulting in a new potential Earth impact in the future.

4. Papers should show originality, engineering practicality, familiarity with the technical literature, and provide a clear written description of the innovation.

5. The papers should conform to the rules for submission to the International Astronautical Congress (IAC). Please see the section entitled "Paper Submission Details" below for actual formatting instructions for papers for this competition.

6. The final submissions are due as PDF documents (under 5 MB) and should be emailed to asteroid@spacegeneration.org. All submissions must be made by 09 June 2008 by 20:00 UTC. All submission emails should have a point of contact (POC) identified in the email with name, affiliation, address, email, and phone number. This point of contact should be the main author of the paper. Any submissions after the due date will not be considered. Award winners will be announced on 30 June 2008 (tentative).

7. There can be up to a maximum of three (3) people per entry. One of the three has to be identified as the main author and main point of contact. All team members must be under thirty-three (33) years of age by 01 September 2008. No one of any team can be listed as a team member for any other team.

III. SCHEDULE

Submission Deadline: 09 June 2008 (20:00 UTC)
Winners Announced: 30 June 2008
Space Generation Congress (SGC): 25 - 27 Sept. 2008, Glasgow, Scotland
International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 29 Sept. - 3 Oct. 2008, Glasgow, Scotland

IV. AWARDS

1st Place Award:

Trip to Glasgow, Scotland for Paper Presentation at:
- Space Generation Congress (SGC) 2008
- International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2008
Note: Award includes airfare, hotel, registration, and meals for 1 person for SGC and IAC

2nd Place Award:

Trip to Glasgow, Scotland for Paper Presentation at:
- Space Generation Congress (SGC) 2008
Note: Award includes airfare, hotel, registration, and meals for 1 person for SGC

Regulations. One member of the first prize winning team will receive the award that consists of air travel, food, lodging, and registration fees to attend the Space Generation Congress (SGC) and International Astronautical Congress (IAC) from 24 September until 04 October 2008. One member of the second prize winning team will receive the award that consists of air travel, food, lodging, and registration fees to attend the Space Generation Congress (SGC) from 24 September until 28 September 2008. SGAC will coordinate with the winners to make airfare and hotel reservations. SGAC will also coordinate with the winners to arrange for registration fees for the SGC and IAC. The SGAC shall not be responsible in the event that the award winner fails to attend the SGC and/or IAC, in that case the award offer shall become void. The SGAC shall not be responsible in the event that the award winner cannot obtain any necessary travel documents; if they are required but not obtained, the award offer shall become void.

V. PAPER SUBMISSION DETAILS

Please download a template for the paper:
- Move An Asteroid 2008 paper template (MS Word)
- Move An Asteroid 2008 paper template (PDF)

Total paper length should not exceed 10 pages. Each paper must be a minimum of 3 pages. Page count includes all sections such as abstract, technical section, references, and figures. Total paper size (as a PDF document) is limited to 5MB in data size. All submissions must be written in English. Any special fonts should be embedded in the Adobe PDF document as needed.

All papers must be typed two columns to a page on 8' 1/2" X 11' (211/2 cm x 28 cm). If you type on A4 sheets, the final manuscript must be in the two-column format but all type must not exceed 61/2" (16 1/2 cm) in width and 9" (23 cm) in length. Leave margins and space between the two columns. Manuscripts must be typed single-spaced. Minimum type for all text is Times Roman/Times New Roman at 10 point size.

The first sections of the report must contain the following:

1. Paper Title: Center the title on the page above the upper portions of both columns. The TITLE of the manuscript is typed in CAPITAL LETTERS. Please the title on the third line of the page (first two lines are blank).
2. The Name of the author(s), his (their) title(s), government, business or school affiliation, City and State (Country) and e-mail address should follow on separate lines in upper and lower case letters. The first author should be the primary author and the main point of contact.
3. Abstract: A one-paragraph abstract, of no more than 200 words, must be included at the beginning of the paper. It should be a summary (not an introduction!) and complete in itself (no numerical references). The abstract should indicate the subjects dealt with in the full text and should state the objectives of the investigation. Newly observed facts and conclusions of the experiment or argument discussed in the full text must be stated in the summary form. Readers should not have to read the full text to understand the abstract.

Other sections of the paper should follow these guidelines:

4. Major Headings: Major headings are capitalized, underlined and centered in the column.
5. Subheadings: Subheadings are underlined and placed flush on the left band margin of the column.
6. Sub-Subheadings: Sub-subheadings are underlined and indented.
7. Acronyms: Always use the full title followed by the acronym to be used.
8. References: List and number all the bibliographical references at the end of the full text, in the order of appearance.
9. Equation Numbers: When numbering equations, enclose numbers in brackets and place flush right with the right band margin of the column.
10. Footnotes, Symbols and Abbreviations: Footnotes should be cited using symbols in this order: *, +, ++, §, and **. Use only standard symbols and abbreviations in text and illustrations.
11. Page Numbers: Type the number of each page at the bottom of your final manuscript.
12. Illustrations and Captions: Company logos and identification numbers are not permitted on your illustrations. Illustrations can be placed at the end of the paper.
13. Graph Lines and Drawings: Use black ink on white manuscript and position to fit within one column on the sheet so that they remain still readable. Tables with a moderate amount of information should be positioned within one column: Tables with large amounts of information may extend across two columns. Graphs, drawings, and tables can be placed at the end of the paper.
14. Captions, Graph Axes, Legends: Captions, graphs axes, legends, etc. should be large enough to remain readable.

VI. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND JUDGING

The SGAC is holding the competition. Financial support has been provided by the sponsors. The competition Advisory Committee includes:

- A.C. Charania, SpaceWorks Commercial, President
- Alex Karl, Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), Chair
- Kevin Stube, Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), SGC Event Manager
- Louis Friedman, The Planetary Society, Executive Director

A judging panel put together by the SGAC shall make recommendations on winner(s) and awards. Proposals will be judged upon the following (approximate initial weights shown in parentheses): technical content and detail (40%); originality (40%), and description of concept (20%). Based upon recommendations of the judging panel, final decisions will be made by an administrative committee from the SGAC.

VII. CONTACT

For more information on the competition please contact:
Mr. A.C. Charania, Coordinator, "Move An Asteroid 2008": International Technical Paper Competition, Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC)
Email: asteroid@spacegeneration.org, Phone: +1.770.379.8006 (USA)

VIII. REFERENCES: PAPERS

The following are a sample set of papers and references that may aid in developing an understanding of the threat from Near Earth Objects (NEO).

- "Near-Earth Object Survey and Definition: Analysis of Alternatives," NASA, Report to Congress. March 2007.
Link: Paper Reference
Link: Report Summary PDF (0.8 MB)
Link: Full Report PDF (15 MB)

- Adams, R., et al., ”Survey of Technologies Relevant to Defense From Near Earth Objects,” NASA/TP-2004-213089, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama, July 2004.
Link: Paper Reference
Link: PDF (62.1 MB)

- Rogers, G. and Izenberg, N., ”Comparison of the Efficiency of Various Asteroid Hazard Mitigation Techniques,” White Paper, NASA NEO Workshop, Vail, Colorado, 26-28 June 2006.
Link: PDF (0.6 MB)

- Schaffer, M. G., Charania, A., Olds, J. R., "Evaluating the Effectiveness of Different NEO Mitigation Options," AIAA-2007-P2-1, 2007 Planetary Defense Conference, Washington, D.C., March 5-8, 2007.
Link: PDF (0.4 MB)

- Schweickart, Chapman, Hut, Durda, Bottke, and Nesvorny, "Threat Characterization: Trajectory Dynamics, White Paper, NASA NEO Workshop, Vail, Colorado, 26-28 June, 2006.
Link: Paper Reference
Link: PDF: Paper (1.3 MB)
Link: PDF: Presentation (1.9 MB)
 

IX. REFERENCES: WEB SITES

Please use the following references as aids in developing your unique concept. There are many papers from the 2007 and 2004 Planetary Defense Conferences on mitigation techniques that may be useful.

- Papers from the 2007 Planetary Defense Conference

- Papers from the 2004 Planetary Defense Conference

- Asteroid And Comet Impact Hazards (Ames Research Center)

- The Near-Earth Objects Page (The Planetary Society)

- JPL Near Earth Object Program

- Homepage of Dr. Clark R. Chapman, Senior Scientist, Southwest Research Institute, Dept. of Space Studies, Boulder CO

- B612 Foundation

- BLOG: Planetary Defense

X. REFERENCES: VIDEOS

The following are selected YouTube videos related to planetary defense against asteroids and comets. They are provided only as informational sources.

- IAC 2007: Earth-threatening asteroids: 1 of 5 (Lecture given at the International Astronautical Congress, Hyderabad, India on 24 September 2007): YouTube

- Asteroid Collision ONE (Dr. George Greenstein, Department of Astronomy at Amherst College, will present "Collision With an Asteroid? Averting a Planet-Wide Catastrophe", the danger of an impact with an asteroid and the work that is underway to avert this danger): YouTube

- NEOs - A Youth Perspective (Presentation given by SGAC Co-Chair Alex Karl during UNCOPUOS S&T 2008): YouTube

XI. ELIGIBILITY

The technical paper competition is open to anyone from any country. Individuals or teams may submit proposals. The competition is open to individuals or teams from academia, industry, government as well as student groups and private groups. All individuals and/or team members should be under thirty-three (33) years of age by 01 September 2008. Direct administrators from the Advisory committee (including direct administrating personnel from SGAC, SpaceWorks Commercial, and the Planetary Society) cannot enter this contest.

XII. COPYRIGHT

Copyright of the submitted proposals shall remain with the contestants. However, by submitting an entry to the Move An Asteroid 2008 International Technical Paper Competition, all contestants agree that the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) and other participating organizations are granted non-exclusive reproduction rights to all content contained within the proposals, unless specifically called out as proprietary. Even if there are proprietary materials, contestants agree that at least the executive summary of their proposal shall not be proprietary and can be made public, and that the entire proposal can be shared with the public as well as judges in the competition and employees and board members of the SGAC. Contestants also agree to permit the SGAC and other participating organizations to mention their names and/or affiliations in connection with the competition. The SGAC may also present ideas and findings generated by this competition at relevant conferences.

XIII. QUALIFICATIONS

This competition is administered by the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC). Any errors or omissions are the responsibility of the administrators and not of the sponsors. The administrators reserve the right to substitute an equal or equivalent award. Competition rules, schedule, and prizes are subject to change without prior notice. Decisions by the administrators are final. Changes will be posted on the competition web site: http://www.spacegeneration.org/asteroid

XIV. ABOUT SGAC, SGC, AND IAC

The Space Generation Advisory Council in support of the United Nations Programme on Space Application (SGAC) is a non-governmental organisation which aims to represent students and young space professionals to the United Nations, States, and space agencies. SGAC has permanent observer status in the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). SGAC has a long history and was conceived at the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Space (UNISPACE-III) in Vienna in 1999, the SGAC Executive Council is made up of representatives from each of the 6 UN regions, and has a larger body of representatives from nation states. Our focus is on pragmatic space policy advise to policy makers based on the interests of students and young professionals, broadly in the age range 18-35, interested in space from around the world. In addition to policy advice our members carry out a range projects including Under African Skies - a grass-roots science teaching project in Africa, Yuri’s Night - a World Space Party, an Association for the Development of Aerospace Medicine, and a Global Space Education Curriculum.

The Space Generation Congress (SGC) is the annual meeting of the most active members of the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) and its projects and combines work on important projects to the space community with leadership training. SGAC aims to promote space exploration and to be the voice of youth in support of space.

The International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is organized by the International Astronautical Federation, (IAF), the International Academy of Astronautics, and the International Institute of Space Law. The IAC is the largest space-related conference in the world and selects an average of 1000 scientific papers every year.