Small Satellites and Planetary Defense Initiatives

Abstract

The issue of cosmic hazards and planetary defense is often associated with coping with asteroids impacting Earth and asteroids going into space to set off nuclear weapons in a last ditch effort to save the world as popularized in movies. There are many initiatives that can be undertaken to address cosmic hazards such as asteroids, coronal mass ejections from the Sun, and other similar threats that might well be addressed through small satellite initiatives. This chapter seeks to identify several types of cosmic hazards and small satellite-related initiatives that might be able to address such threats to people and global infrastructure that might be addressed via small satellite programs. This includes some projects that have already been tested in space as well as possible initiatives that are still being considered at a conceptual or design engineering level. The main thrust of this chapter is to highlight ways in which small satellite activities might be able to provide useful protective capabilities for planet Earth if these activities can be initiated at an early stage and various types of threats detected sufficiently in advance so as to allow the use of small-scale and much less expensive space missions.