From Apollo to asteroids

Former astronaut Rusty Schweikart is in the vanguard of defence against space rocks

Apollo 8 astronaut Rusty Schweickart is one of the founders of the B612 Foundation, a sponsor of Asteroid Day, who has spent years investigating asteroid deflection techniques.

He explains: “More and more asteroids were being discovered, but nobody was talking about what to do if one comes our way. We asked if technology was at a point where it’s worth considering what to do. It turned out it was: with sufficiently advance knowledge we probably could deflect an asteroid.”

That work led in turn to the first inklings of AIDA, and what has become DART and Hera. “We stopped talking about a deflection mission and switched to a deflection campaign,” says Schweickart. “You need an observer spacecraft as well as a deflector, to be sure the deflection has worked as planned. If it hasn’t, the observer could help fine-tune the asteroid’s modified orbit, serving as a ‘gravity tractor’ – using its own mass to tug the body in a different direction.”