- Journal
- Année
- 2011
- Pages
- 397-412
Abstract
Given the large quantity of objects in space near Earth, there is the possibility that one of these will impact the Earth's surface. The most mature technologies for deflecting such an object so that it does not strike the Earth are the conventional means of hypervelocity impactors or chemical explosives. These methods turn out to be very effective because of momentum enhancement, which is the increase in momentum transferred to a target due to ejecta material being thrown backwards during crater formation, i.e., the objects themselves supplying some of the material that leads to the change in momentum. Quantitative estimates of momentum enhancement are of interest in determining the effectiveness of hypervelocity impactors and chemical explosives in deflecting potentially hazardous cosmic objects. This paper explores momentum enhancement both experimentally and computationally, showing that enhancements on the order of 10 are a possibility.