Asteroid Redirection with Gravity tractoring and Observation

Potential hazardous asteroids (PHA) are asteroids which have relatively high probability of impacting the Earth compared to that in Kuiper belts. PHA are class of asteroids
which stay near the Earth orbit, thus they are also called Near earth asteroids(NEA). Many mitigation strategies have been conceptualized in the past to deflect asteroid from
impacting the Earth. Deflection techniques such as Kinematic impactor and nuclear detonation techniques essentially deals with instantaneous energy impartation to the asteroid as a way to deflect it. Whereas, techniques such as Gravity traction and Space tug uses the mutual gravity field and tugging force respectively for deflection, thus requiring a large amount of time. In this study, gravity traction technique’s feasibility is analyzed in the context of real mission scenario. The mission is named Asteroid Redirection with Gravity tractoring and Observation or ARGO for short. This work will delineate the comprehensive feasibility study carried out by the ARGO mission team
on gravity traction deflection technique. I